JD (U) mocks at Kushwaha’s charter of demands, says mandatory overs are on

RLSP chief Upendra Kushwaha’s demands includes appointment of school teachers through Bihar Public Service Commission, re-evaluation of teachers appointed since 2003, exempting teachers from non-teaching work, mandatory 75% attendance, etc.

Failing to get any positive vibes from Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar after his alleged ‘neech’ (low) remark against Upendra Kushwaha, the union minister and RLSP chief has placed a 25-point ‘Charter of Demands’ before the state government, which could possibly pave the way for a reconciliation between the two.

The JD(U) ridiculed Upendra Kushwaha’s demands and wondered what the union minister was doing all these years. (File Photo)

“I am ready to forgive and forget everything, the insults heaped on me personally and the short-changing of my party on the issue of seats, if the government in Bihar assures that it would work on my 25-point charter of demands. As the minister of state for human resource development, I value improving education above everything else,” he said.

Kushwaha’s charter of demands includes appointment of school teachers through the Bihar Public Service Commission, re-evaluation of teaching staff appointed since 2003, exempting teachers from all non-teaching work, making 75 per cent attendance mandatory, modernisation of madrasas and timely holding of students’ union elections.

The JD(U) ridiculed Kushwaha’s demands and wondered what the union minister was doing all these years.

“I thank him for his advice. The advice has come at the end of an innings when the mandatory overs are on. He won’t be able to get any extra funds from the Centre nor would he be in a position to get any projects cleared now. Had he come up with the advice of betterment of education earlier, it would have been better,” said Bihar’s education minister Krishna Nandan Verma.

“After all education is in the concurrent list. He cannot evade responsibility by pretending it is exclusively a state subject,” he said.

Kushwaha, who failed to get an appointment with Prime Minister Narendra Modi to sort out developments in the NDA, has now decided to take a decision on his future course of action at the party meeting at Bettiah later this week.