In the dock, Bihar minister stripped of law portfolio

The decision comes a day ahead of a scheduled hearing in a Danapur court on the anticipatory bail plea of Kartik Kumar in the abduction case in which he had failed to surrender in court despite an arrest warrant issued on July 19.

The Nitish Kumar government in Bihar on Wednesday changed the portfolio of its law minister Kartik Kumar, whose recent induction into the cabinet despite his alleged involvement in a case of kidnapping had drawn all-round criticism.

RJD leader Kartik Kumar (HT Photo)

“Kartik Kumar is allotted the portfolio of sugarcane industry in place of law, and Shamim Ahmad gets law in place of sugarcane industry till further orders,” a notification issued by the Raj Bhawan on Wednesday said.

Both Kartik Kumar and Shamim Ahmad are from the RJD, the largest constituent of the ruling Grand Alliance.

The decision comes a day ahead of a scheduled hearing in a Danapur court on the anticipatory bail plea of Kartik Kumar in the abduction case in which he had failed to surrender in court despite an arrest warrant issued on July 19.

Kartik Kumar, a member of the legislative council (MLC), who is said to be close to controversial former Mokama MLA Anant Kumar Singh, had assumed officer as the law minister on August 16. The case against him relates to abduction of a Patna-based developer Raju Singh in 2014 in which the Patna police had filed a charge sheet in 2018.

Meanwhile, the BJP, which lost power in the state in early August when chief minister Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) snapped ties with the saffron party and realigned with RJD-led alliance, said the latest decision is an eyewash.

“Nitish Kumar is demonstrating that he can get people framed in cases and offer them protection if they become loyal to him. He had extended such a favour to (RJD president) Lalu Prasad and his son Tejashwi. He is now doing the same to Kartik,” state BJP president Sanjay Jaiswal said.

“It is a brazen attempt to avoid shame, but people were watching how low Nitish Kumar can stoop to justify his wrongs in the new company. It shows that all his speeches on crime and corruption were a sham,” said state BJP spokesman Nikhil Anand.

The Congress and CPI-ML (Liberation), constituents of the ruling Grand Alliance, had also asked the Nitish Kumar government to reconsider the decision of inducting Kartik Kumar into the cabinet.