‘Some people feel bad when I raise issues': Ex-Bihar minister keeps up attacks

Sudhakar Singh, a Bihar legislator from Ramgarh segment in Kaimur district, said he will not take a step back and will continue to raise issues that concern farmers and the poor.

BHABUA: Former Bihar agriculture minister Sudhakar Singh, who resigned from the government on Sunday after complaining of corruption in the department, said he will continue to keep raising concerns of farmers in the assembly and on the roads.

Former Bihar agriculture minister Sudhakar Singh on Monday addressed a gathering of farmers at Adhaura, a hilly region in Kaimur district. (HT File Photo/Santosh Kumar)

“Some people feel bad when I raise the issue of farmers and corruption. The restlessness of those in power increases. Officers and their staff have become masters and are treating people like subjects. I have resigned but our government is ruling. I will raise the issue from roads to assembly if needed,” Sudhakar Singh told a gathering of farmers in Adhaura, a hilly region in Kaimur district.

Singh, a legislator from Ramgarh assembly segment in Kaimur district, is the son of Bihar Rashtriya Janata Dal president Jagadanand Singh.

Singh said he will not step back and continue to raise issues that concern farmers and the poor who were not getting the benefits of development and welfare schemes due to corrupt officials.

He assured tribals at the gathering that he will continue to fight for their rights of Jal, Jangal and Jameen (water, forests and land). “The tribals will get their traditional rights on forest produce and I am planning to open everyday markets at several places on the plateau,” the former minister said.

Singh, a first-time MLA, was inducted into Nitish Kumar’s cabinet in August when the chief minister’s party Janata Dal-United snapped ties with BJP and formed a new government in alliance with RJD, Congress and other parties.

Singh, however, resigned on Sunday, less than two months after his induction.

His father, who announced the resignation, said Sudhakar Singh resigned because the RJD has a clear policy on agriculture and they didn’t want the rift to widen.

The RJD MLA on Saturday said he will not allow the “continuation of BJP agenda” in his department with the formation of the Grand Alliance government in the state and claimed that official statistics revealed the failure of road maps for the farm sector vis-a-vis the targets.

After the first two agriculture road maps for the state were launched in 2008 and 2012, the third one was launched in 2017 by former president Ram Nath Kovind. The NDA government in Bihar had decided to extend it beyond 2022. The agriculture ministry was with the BJP until Nitish’s Janata Dal (United) severed ties with the NDA.