Bihar’s main Opposition RJD and its allies on Wednesday attacked Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for appointing JD(U)’s Mewalal Choudhary as the Education Minister even though he faces corruption charges and was suspended from the party over the issue, and demanded he be sacked.
RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav said Choudhary, a former vice chancellor of an agriculture university and a first-time Minister, faces serious charges under the IPC including cheating (section 420), and criminal conspiracy (120B).
“Has Chief Minister Nitish Kumar awarded Mewalal Choudhary for corruption and given him the freedom to loot?” he asked in a tweet.
Choudhary, 67, was suspended from the Nitish Kumar-led JD(U) in 2017 after an FIR was registered against him over alleged irregularities in appointments during his tenure as the Vice Chancellor of the Bihar Agriculture University, Sabour in Bhagalpur district.
The FIR was registered against him in February that year on the basis of a report by the then VC over some anomalies in the appointment of Assistant Professors and junior scientists.
The BJP which was in the opposition during the grand alliance Ministry then had strongly raised the issue against Choudhary. Chaudhary had left the job to contest the 2015 Bihar polls on a JD(U) ticket and was elected from Tarapur Assembly seat in Munger district. He retained his seat in the just-concluded State polls and has been made the Education Minister.
The probe has brought to light alleged irregularities in the appointment of 161 Assistant Professors and Junior Scientists in 2012. Tejashwi also took a swipe at the new NDA government for not appointing any Muslim in the cabinet.
They have made an accused, absconding in several cases of corruption, the Education Minister. But there is no minister from the minority community, Tejashwi said.