BJP state president Mangal Pandey addresses the news meet in Patna on Monday. Picture by Nagendra Kumar Singh

Patna, Nov. 4: Bihar BJP president Mangal Pandey on Monday criticised the Nitish-led government’s “lackadaisical approach” towards the October 27 blasts probe.

Pandey alleged that neither the state investigating agencies nor the National Investigation Agency (NIA) had taken down the statements of the injured, who were eyewitnesses to the incident.

The blasts, suspected to be the handiwork of terrorist outfit Indian Mujahideen, left six persons dead and over 80 injured. The injured were rushed to Patna Medical College and Hospital and other private nursing homes and hospitals. “What kind of investigation is going on? There were 98 injured persons, most of whom were admitted to PMCH. Of these, 27 injured are still being treated at PMCH, but till date neither the police nor NIA has recorded the statements of these people who were witness to the incident. This simply shows the government’s callousness and careless approach in dealing with the issue,” Pandey said.

Patna senior superintendent of police Manu Maharaaj said: “The statements of those injured are still being taken.”

Referring to the government’s announcement of Rs 20,000 in relief to each injured person, Pandey said only 30 out of 80 people who were admitted to PMCH had received money for treatment.

‘Dictator’ jab

Taking exception to Nitish Kumar describing his Gujarat counterpart Narendra Modi as a “dictator” and “fascist”, BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi today said the JD(U) leader himself has been known to behave like a “dictator”.

Sushil quoted ailing JD(U) stalwart George Fernandes as having said once that Nitish had become a dictator. It was due to his dictatorial style of functioning that the late JD(U) leader Digvijay Singh had snapped ties with Nitish and Rajiv Ranjan Singh had charged Nitish with behaving like a dictator while quitting his post of the state JD(U) president three years ago, he said.