In a stark irony, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Kartikeya Singh took oath as Bihar's new law minister on August 16—the day he was to surrender before a Patna court in connection with a kidnapping case. Singh is accused of conspiracy to abduct a builder with the intent to murder him.
Asked about it, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said he was not aware of the case against Singh. “I do not know, I have no information about this,” he said.
The opposition BJP trained its guns on Nitish and demanded that Singh be dismissed from the cabinet immediately.
“If Kartikeya Singh had a warrant against him, he should have surrendered. But he has taken oath as Law minister. I ask Nitish, is he trying to take Bihar back to Lalu's times? Kartikey Singh should be immediately dismissed,” BJP MP and former deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi was quoted as saying by ANI.
Nitish expanded his new cabinet on Tuesday by inducting 31 new ministers, including a huge contingent of 16 from key ally RJD, taking care to give due representation to all sections of society, including minorities. Some 11 members of the council of ministers are from Nitish's JD(U), two from Congress and one from ex-CM Jitan Ram Manjhi's HAM, besides an Independent.
According to poll rights body ADR, more than 70 per cent of the newly sworn-in ministers in Bihar have declared criminal cases against themselves.
The ADR report says 23 ministers (72 per cent) have declared criminal cases against themselves and 17 ministers (53 per cent) have declared serious criminal cases against themselves.