Nitish asks his excise minister to step down

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has asked state excise minister Jamshed Ashraf to resign, official sources said in Patna on Wednesday.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has asked state excise minister Jamshed Ashraf to resign, official
sources said in Patna on Wednesday.

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Ashraf had written to the chief minister last week, stating that there was a Rs 500 crore scam in his own department and that some officials in the CM’s office were also involved. Ashraf had also told the media that he had been seeking an appointment with Nitish Kumar for six months but had failed to get one.

Kumar had initially said that the allegations were baseless. He has now described Ashraf’s letter as “unfortunate, undignified, an attempt to malign the image of the government and unbecoming of a minister”, the sources said.

The sources said Kumar has conveyed in a letter to the minister that he should resign from the state cabinet for “breaching the office of oath and secrecy.” The tenor of letter, which puts the blame on Ashraf, also gives ample hint that the minister could be on his way out.