The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) on Sunday criticised the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after it blamed the Nitish Kumar-led Bihar government for the collapse of a four-lane under-construction bridge on the Ganga river in the state's Bhagalpur district.

RJD spokesperson Shakti Singh Yadav said: "The faulty construction of the bridge took place during the tenure of Nand Kishore Yadav, Mangal Pandey and Nitin Navin.

They are the MLAs of BJP, and had been ministers during the construction between 2017 to 2022.

"Even though the bridge collapsed last year on April 30, Nitin Navin was the minister of the road construction department. Can Samrat Chaudhary, Vijay Kumar Sinha and Amit Malviya admit that corruption had taken place during the tenure of BJP leaders? Nand Kishore Yadav, Mangal Pandey and Nitin Navin would support the statements of their leaders," he added.

Yadav's reaction came after BJP's IT cell in-charge Amit Malviya, while tweeting the video of the bridge collapse, said: "An under-construction bridge between Bhagalpur's Sultanganj area and connecting Khagaria district collapsed today. The bridge was inaugurated by Nitish Kumar and its completion time was 2020."

BJP's Vijay Kumar Sinha, Leader of the Opposition in Bihar assembly, said: "It is not the bridge that collapsed in Bhagalpur.

The trust of the people in the Bihar government has gone into the Ganga river. This bridge has collapsed twice, which clearly proves that corruption has taken place on a large scale."

"Nitish Kumar should resign on moral grounds. His government is involved in corruption," said BJP's Bihar unit president, Samrat Chaudhary. (IANS/NS)