Former Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi today charged former Chief Minister Nitish Kumar with running corruption and crime protection bureau to ensure survival of a "fragile" JD(U) government in Bihar.
"You may not be running a marriage bureau, but you are definitely running corruption and crime protection bureau otherwise your (JD-U) government will fall," Modi told reporters.
Days ago, the former chief minister had slammed his former deputy for casting aspersions on him vis-a-vis medicine purchase scam by saying that he was not running a marriage bureau. Kumar was referring to Modi's charge that close relatives of the former chief minister were involved in the medicine purchase scam.
The senior BJP leader lashed out at the JD(U) leader for going overboard on getting a clean chit from the Chief Secretary Anjani Kumar Singh in the medicine purchase scam saying that it has not come a surprise as a bureaucrat was bound to comply with the directives of political masters.
Trashing the former chief minister's claim about being a man of integrity and honesty, Modi said that if it was so then why was he running away from asking the JD(U) government from recommending CBI probe in the medicine purchase scam? Pointing to Kumar's alleged culpability in the medicine purchase scam running into about Rs 14 crore that took place when he held the charge of health department last year, Modi said that the former chief minister cannot get away by simply saying that the files with regard to purchase of medicine were not brought to his table for sanction.
The medicine purchase scam has been widely covered by the media and the matter was taken to court by petitioners, but the former chief minister never took cognizance and intervened to fast track the probe and take measures to bring the guilty to book, Modi said.
"A chief minister or a minister must not run away from discharging duties on one pretext or other," Modi said.
Referring to the medicine purchase scam, the former deputy chief minister said many officials charged with involvement in the said scam were close relatives of the former chief minister's trusted partymen who "tied his hands against cracking whip against those errant officials."
Seeking to make the medicine purchase scam an electoral issue in the run up to the assembly polls in Bihar next year, Modi said that the BJP will chart out a course of action after Chhath festivity to carry out agitational programmes throughout the state to corner the JD(U) government.
The former deputy chief minister also tried to put the state government in dock for issuing transfer orders "every now and then in violation of guidelines laid down in this regard which says that officials can not be transferred except for exigencies after June."
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