Modi in Patna on Thursday. Picture by Nagendra Kumar Singh

Patna, June 27: BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi today blamed the state government for the delay in giving compensation to the Forbesganj police firing victims’ kin, revealing a secret of the erstwhile NDA regime.

He said kin of three victims of the Forbesganj police firing were yet to get the compensation because the commission probing the incident was yet to submit its report. The former deputy chief minister said the panel was constituted overruling his petition to first pay the compensation to the relatives of the victims.

Modi’s revelation comes a day after former urban development minister Prem Kumar revealed how the ambitious Metro rail project was delayed.

Demanding Rs 10 lakh compensation for the families of the victims of the recent police firing at Bagaha, Modi said: “Kin of only one victim of Forbesganj firing has been given compensation on humanitarian grounds. The damages of the three other victims’ families are stuck with the inquiry commission. They will get the compensation only if the commission holds the police firing as unjustified. While in the government, I had pleaded that the families of the victims of the police firing should be given compensation first. But I was overruled.”

Four persons died in the Forbesganj police firing in June 2011. The state government formed an inquiry commission, which was supposed to submit its report to the government within six months. But the commission is yet to submit its report and has been granted several extensions.

Modi revealed that there was no provision for giving compensation to the kin of those killed in police firing. “A cabinet nod is mandatory before giving the compensation. Even the announcement made for the victims of Bagaha will have to be approved by the cabinet,” he said, stressing that he was not demanding an inquiry commission for a probe into the Bagaha incident because it would only delay the process of giving compensation to the families of the victims.

The secrets during the erstwhile NDA government appears to be tumbling out of closet after the JD(U)-BJP split. Former minister Nand Kishore Yadav revealed in the Assembly how he had opposed the termination of legislators’ local area development funds.

The JD(U) so far has charged former BJP ministers of violating the oath of secrecy they took when they were sworn in as ministers. But the former ministers of the BJP indicated that there would be more revelations after Nitish said several BJP leaders would face problems if he opened his mouth.

The only one who is laughing is their common foe — the RJD. “Let both the BJP and JD(U) expose each other. The people of Bihar will be informed about their misdeeds,” said RJD leader Abdul Bari Siddiqui.