Bihar’s ex-Speaker, now LoP, alleges scam in Kaushal Yuva scheme

Vijay Kumar Sinha has demanded that the government lay two reports of assembly committees on Friday when the House meets again.

BJP leader Vijay Kumar Sinha, who resigned as Bihar Assembly Speaker just before the trust vote for the new Grand Alliance government on Wednesday and was named by his party as the leader of Opposition, has demanded that the government lay two reports of assembly committees on Friday when the House meets again.

BJP leader and Leader of Opposition Vijay Kumar Sinha. (Santosh Kumar/HT Photo)

Of the two reports, the first is related to irregularities in Kaushal Yuva (skill development for youths) programme and the second is related to findings of the ethics committee which was looking into the ruckus created by members, including current deputy chief minister Tejashwi Prasad Yadav of the RJD, in the Assembly last year, he said.

“We have written a letter to chairman and parliamentary affairs minister to add these two agendas in the list of proceedings for Friday,” Sinha said on Thursday.

“The Mahagathbandhan government has come to power in Bihar by insulting the mandate of the 2020 Assembly elections, which has put the democracy to shame. During the current session, the change in the agenda was done in an undemocratic manner against the prescribed rules and provisions, which is regrettable. While being the Speaker, I had made the list of business for the conduct of the House, in which the two reports of the House committees was to be placed after the Speaker’s initial address. But the sequence was changed in the night by the Assembly secretariat without any order,” the former Speaker said.

Sinha said BJP leader Tarkishore Prasad, who was deputy chief minister in the previous government, made repeated pleas to lay the reports in the House on Wednesday, but there were overlooked. “Of the two reports, one relates to a scam. A special committee was constituted to look into the matter. We want it to be tabled before the House so that everybody knows about the findings of the committee,” said Sinha.

Asked what exactly was the scam, he said he, as Bihar’s labour minister between 2017-20, had detected financial irregularities in the scheme, that came under his department, and ordered a probe by a House committee.

“If you believe in zero tolerance in corruption, why are you shying away from laying the report? Whom are you trying to save?” Sinha asked, in an apparent dig at chief minister Nitish Kumar.