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Nitish steps in after JD(U) MLA calls for minister’s ouster
Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar on Thursday reacted strongly to JD(U) legislator Bima Bharti’s allegations against party colleague and newly inducted minister Leshi Singh, and warned her against going public with her grievances.
Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar on Thursday reacted strongly to Janata Dal (United) legislator Bima Bharti’s allegations against party colleague and newly inducted minister Leshi Singh, and warned her against going public with her grievances.
Bharti on Wednesday threatened to quit the party if CM Nitish Kumar does not remove Leshi Singh from the state’s cabinet.
“We have already given her (Leshi Singh) a post in our cabinet in 2013, 2014 and 2019. I am shocked that she (Bima Bharti) has given such a statement,” Kumar told reporters.
Bharti, a fifth-term legislator from Rupauli assembly constituency in Purnia district, is reportedly upset over not being given any portfolio during the cabinet expansion on Tuesday.
“Leshi Singh is accused of many murders. I know the names of all people who have been murdered by her,” Bharti told reporters on Wednesday. “She threatens witnesses. If she is not removed from the post of minister, I will resign.”
Singh, a legislator from Dhamdaha constituency in Purnia district, was inducted as a minister on Tuesday and allotted the food and consumer protection portfolio. Rupauli and Dhamdaha are adjacent constituencies in Purnia.
Levelling serious charges against Singh, Bharti said the newly inducted minister was allegedly involved in “plotting” the killing of a Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader in Sarsi.
“I am not aggrieved that I was denied ministerial berth but I am very much shocked that Leshi Singh was made minister,” Bharti said.
In November 2020, Singh was booked in connection with murder of RJD leader Bittu Singh’s brother, Pushpesh Singh alias Beni Singh (30), who was shot dead near a polling booth under Dhamdhaha constituency during the assembly elections in Bihar.
Bharti said she has narrated everything to chief minister Nitish Kumar, party president Rajiv Ranjan alias Lalan Singh and party’s state unit chief Umesh Kushwaha.
Bharti had also recently accused Singh of “plotting” to kill former district board chairperson Rintu Singh.
On Thursday, the chief minister reprimanded Bharti, “who has herself been a minister in 2014 and 2019”, for going public with her grievances.
“She will be tackled at the party level. If she sees reason, fine, else she shall be free to chart her own course,” Kumar said. “It seems she has been provoked. Such a thing should not be spoken.”
