"Historical day": Ravi Shankar Prasad on flagging off of nine new Vande Bharat trains

Patna (Bihar) [India], September 24 (ANI): Bharatiya Janata Party MP Ravi Shankar Prasad on Sunday thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for flagging off nine new Vande Bharat trains, including one from Bihar's Patna, the former's parliamentary constituency. 
"It is a historical day. I express my gratitude towards Prime Minister Modiji. And want to thank Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnawji. People used to ask me when Patna would get the Vande Bharat train, now we are witnessing the second Vande Bharat train from here. I am very happy", said Prasad while talking to reporters in Bihar's Patna. 
Earlier today, Prime Minister Narendra Modi virtually flagged off nine Vande Bharat Express trains, and said that the speed and scale of infrastructure development are matching with aspirations of 140 crore Indians.
"The speed and scale of infrastructure development are matching with the aspirations of 140 crore Indians. Today people of Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Bihar, West Bengal, Kerala, Odisha, Jharkhand and Gujarat will get the facility of Vande Bharat Express trains. These new Vande Bharat Express trains depict the new energy of the country," PM Modi said while speaking at the launch of new trains.
PM Modi said that 25 Vande Bharat Express trains are already running, now nine more will be added to them.
"The popularity of Vande Bharat trains is constantly rising.
Over 1,11,00,000 crore passengers have already travelled on them," he added.
The launch of these trains will connect religious and tourist destinations across 11 these states, a PMO statement said earlier.
The new trains are Udaipur – Jaipur Vande Bharat Express, Tirunelveli-Madurai- Chennai Vande Bharat Express, Hyderabad –Bengaluru Vande Bharat Express, Vijayawada – Chennai (via Renigunta) Vande Bharat Express, Patna – Howrah Vande Bharat Express, Kasaragod - Thiruvananthapuram Vande Bharat Express, Rourkela - Bhubaneswar – Puri Vande Bharat Express, Ranchi – Howrah Vande Bharat Express and Jamnagar-Ahmedabad Vande Bharat Express.
The Vande Bharat train is an initiative of the government under PM Modi's vision of 'Make in India'.
Meanwhile, Ravi Shankar Prasad took potshots at Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar over claims that the latter did not come to the inauguration event despite having been given the invitation by the government. 
"I have heard that Nitish Kumarji was also invited. It would have been good if he came. He should have shown a big heart", he said. 
Earlier today, after Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off nine Vande Bharat Express trains including one in Bihar, Union Minister of State (MoS) Ashwini Choubey on Sunday lashed out at Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, adding that despite giving the invitation, he did not come.
"Several ministers of the state (Bihar) did not come despite the invitation by the Railways. They are jealous of the country and state's development. The Chief Minister (CM Nitish Kumar) did not come despite the invitation. This is a matter of shame for Bihar," Choubey said. (ANI)