Janata Dal (United) MLA Anant Kumar Singh on Friday claimed to have arranged the murder of nine people to help former Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar during his political struggles. The ruling party was quick to distance itself from the controversial remark.
Singh, who represents Mokama, made the claim while criticising the party’s decision to field his political rival, Neeraj Kumar, in the upcoming Bihar Legislative Council elections. He has vowed to ensure Neeraj Kumar’s defeat and is backing Jan Suraaj Party candidate Anuj Singh.
"Nitish Kumar and I go back a long way. To help him, I got nine people murdered. I stood by him in times when he was struggling to find a toehold," Singh said, as per PTI.
‘I was shot’
Singh later appeared to clarify. Speaking to ANI, he said nine of his associates were killed during Lalu Prasad Yadav’s government and claimed that the killings were linked to their support for Nitish Kumar. He also said he had been shot during that period and that his family had suffered significant losses.
“During the Lalu Yadav government, nine of my associates were killed, and I myself was shot. It was because we aligned ourselves with Nitish Kumar that Lalu Yadav had them killed. We have suffered such immense losses. My father also passed away due to a heart attack,” Singh told ANI.
{{/usCountry}}“During the Lalu Yadav government, nine of my associates were killed, and I myself was shot. It was because we aligned ourselves with Nitish Kumar that Lalu Yadav had them killed. We have suffered such immense losses. My father also passed away due to a heart attack,” Singh told ANI.
{{/usCountry}}JD(U) responds
The JD(U)'s national spokesperson Rajiv Ranjan Prasad said that the remark did not deserve serious consideration. In a video statement, Prasad, without naming Singh, defended Nitish Kumar’s political record and rejected any suggestion of an association with criminal activity.
"Nitish Kumar has stood out for an untainted record, with no blemishes of hobnobbing with criminals and involvement in violence or any type of negativity," he said. "The type of statement that we have come across deserves no cognisance from the party and is unlikely to be taken seriously by the public," Prasad added.
Political rivalry behind the remarks
Singh’s outburst comes amid a dispute over the JD(U)’s choice of candidate for the upcoming Legislative Council polls. His opposition to Neeraj Kumar, a political rival, has put him at odds with the party leadership, even as he insists that his support for Anuj Singh does not reflect disloyalty to Nitish Kumar.
Nitish Kumar, who has led Bihar for much of the past two decades, has built much of his political image around improving law and order in the state. His tenure has often been associated with the promise of ending the lawlessness that marked parts of Bihar’s earlier political landscape.