Amid the ongoing “letter war” between former Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his then deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi over Rs25-crore medicine scam, a senior State BJP leader and former party chief CP Thakur on Sunday defended Nitish Kumar.
He also said that the ongoing letter war between Sushil Modi and Nitish Kumar must stop immediately and the investigative agencies should be allowed to probe the scam.
“Nitish Kumar is an honest person to the core and it is unfair to cast aspersion on him in the scam. Nitish Kumar is known to me for decades and as far I know him he is an honest person known for his propriety and integrity,” said senior Bihar BJP leader C P Thakur. Thakur was Union Health Minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Government and is Rajya Sabha member of the party. When reminded that a senior leader of his own party has leveled charges against Kumar in the “letter war” over alleged medicine scam, Thakur termed it as a “sad development”.
Earlier on Saturday, the State BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi had sent a three-page blistering response letter to Kumar raising 13-point questionnaires to him over the Rs25 crore alleged medicine scam. Kumar had shot a two-page letter to Sushil Modi seeking details of the irregularities in the scam.
“You don’t need to seek information from me as I am not the information officer of any Government department. You can get all these information from RTI but, in fact, you also do not need to go through RTI as in reality you’re the Bihar Government and everybody right from principal secretaries to the Chief Minister report to you and take directions,” Modi replied to Kumar’s letter.
He further said in his letter that if the CCTV footage or phone call records of Kumar’s and CM residence is taken out it would be known that Government officials visit Kumar’s residence more than CM’s residence.Thakur recently had expressed displeasure over the way he was being ignored in the party by “some of the leaders who have hijacked its Bihar unit”. He even went on to the extent saying his position in the party today was not better than a peon “as nobody consults him in any affairs of the party”.
Thakur had also protested what Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh had earlier said in Bihar that “party should contest the upcoming State Assembly poll in 2015 with Sushil Modi as the leader”.“Such statements should not come out at this time…let the party’s parliamentary board decide,” he said.
like Thakur, a many other State BJP leaders too have protested the statement and projection of Sushil Modi as party’s face in the upcoming State Assembly elections.leaders like Chandra Mohan Rai, Satyadeo Arya, Prem Kumar, Rameshwar Chaurasia, Harendra Pratap and Ashwani Choubey have already said that party should go into the poll with “collective leadership” instead of an individual’s name.
“If party gears up to contest the Assembly poll declaring Modi as the leader it will harm the party most,” said all the leaders in the list. Recently, senior party leader and former Health Minister in NDA Government in Bihar, Chandramohan Rai had announce to take sanyas from active politics over the way Sushil Modi has taken over.
Meanwhile, seemingly unfazed with the voice of rebellion against him party leader Sushil Modi said that he was not aware of anyone in the party “unhappy” with him and, instead, he has been attacking former Chief Minister Kumar from every possible corner.
“May I know in which capacity a cavalcade of altogether 61 cars had accompanied Kumar when he had recently visited Nalanda and Atish Chandra, who is the secretary to CM Jitan Ram Manjhi, was also present in that convoyIJ,” asked Modi in his letter.Modi has also raised several points linking Nitish Kumar’s loyalist and close aides relations with the scam.
“By raising such issues Sushil Modi, in fact, wants to settle his party leaders whom he sees as threat to his chief ministerial ambition. He has become so desperate to become the Chief Minister of the State that he could go to any depth to achieve this,” commented JD(U) leader and spokesperson Neeraj Kumar.