Patna, June 13: A picture of Bachcha Rai with chief minister Nitish Kumar emerged today, sparking fresh buzz about the scam-accused Vishun Roy College principal's wide-ranging political connections and triggering a war of words between the JDU and the BJP.
The picture - which comes on the heels of Bachcha's photographs with Lalu Prasad and Union minister for micro, small and medium enterprises Giriraj Singh - shows Bachcha standing next to Nitish at an event. The JDU said the picture was of a wedding ceremony held in 2013. The BJP grabbed the opportunity to attack Nitish and and hit back at Lalu's son and deputy chief minister Tejaswi, who had tweeted pictures of Giriraj and Bachcha on Sunday, including one showing the Union minister presenting an award to Bachcha, whose college is at the centre of the Intermediate exam scam.
Giriraj tweeted the latest photograph, along with two other pictures showing Bachcha with Lalu, and sought Tejaswi's comments: "Few rare pictures of your father Laluji and uncle Nitish babu with Bachcha Rai...clarification?"
Tejaswi retaliated with a series of tweets at Giriraj, including one that said: "Had the accused Bachcha Rai been close to us, we would have been presenting him the award, instead of you. Bihar BJP leaders know how honest you are Giriraj Singh ji. That is why everyone is deadly silent, including Sushil Modi ji. Aren't they?"
In another tweet, Tejaswi asked Giriraj: "So it's pinching hard now. When BJP gang does a character assassination of others based on a random picture then it suits you guys."
As the battle continued in cyberspace, JDU leaders accused the BJP of using random pictures to reap political benefits.
"This is not an important matter," said MLC and JDU spokesperson Neeraj Kumar. "Political leaders indulge in social courtesy and meet several people without conducting ultrasound scan to know what's inside them."
He said it was the BJP that started the fight by publicising pictures showing Lalu and Bachcha, which was countered by photographs of Giriraj with Bachcha.
"For the BJP, the important thing is to do politics over photos. But for our chief minister, the important thing is to take action against the people involved in the Intermediate exam scam," the JDU spokesperson added.
The BJP refused to buy the argument and accused the ruling alliance of raking up "photo controversy" to divert attention from Bachcha and Lalu's links.
"Photos are not important - this everybody understands," said BJP MLC Vinod Narayan Jha. "But it is a known fact that Bachcha had been a cherished member of the RJD and was very close to Lalu. The entire scam happened after Lalu became close to Nitish and Bachcha's powers increased exponentially."
Vinod sought to know whether Tejaswi would demand action against Nitish also, like he had demanded against Giriraj.
Sources cutting across political parties said Bachcha used to hobnob, socialise, invite and oblige top leaders of various parties in the state.
"There is much hullabaloo over just a few pictures of Lalu, Nitish and Giriraj with Bachcha. But if a proper probe is conducted, the topper scam accused's photos with several other present and past union ministers and state ministers will come out. Bachcha was highly connected with all the political parties that matter in Bihar," a source said.
AN Sinha Institute of Social Studies professor and former director D.M. Diwakar said: "The likes of Bachcha flourish in the environment of opportunistic politics, in which principles and ideologies do not carry any weight, pliability of politicians and public servants increase and they are always on the lookout for benefits. Bihar is passing through this phase, and it has led to destruction of the entire educational system here."
Diwakar also asserted that there could be more scams in the education sector in the state than the people could even guess.
