Ramadhar Singh

Patna, Sept. 19: Co-operative minister and BJP legislator Ramadhar Singh returned to chief minister Nitish Kumar’s weekly janata darbar today after being in isolation for over five months.

It was a time of joy for Ramadhar as he entered the janata darbar for the first time since May 16. The minister, who was declared an absconder by an Aurangabad court, had resigned from the cabinet on May 20.

He was charged with making a provocative speech with an intention to trigger communal violence after the Babri Masjid demolition in 1992.

Re-inducted into the cabinet on August 26, he arrived late at the janata darbar and took a seat next to animal and fish resources minister Giriraj Singh. However, for 20 minutes not a single complainant came to Ramadhar as they had no information that the minister was back to work.

Some employees of the department informed the complainants that they could approach the co-operative minister regarding any grievance related to the department. Soon complainants started to approach the minister.

Ramadhar said: “It is the happiest moment for me to serve the people of my state once again. I am a party worker first and a minister later. Nitishji and Modiji (deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi) have put their trust in me and it is because of their grace that I am back in the cabinet. Being out of the cabinet did not mean I had bad days as I was getting Rs 1,00,000 as an MLA. Now, as a minister, I would get Rs 98,000. So, it’s not a matter of power and money, it is a matter of serving the people on a larger scale.

“In fact, I would like to thank those people who resurrected the ghost (the case) after 17 years as it gave me an opportunity to go through a litmus test.”

The minister added: “Then RJD government plotted against me to malign the name of BJP. The charges state that I gave a provocative speech to trigger communal violence. It is absolutely incorrect and nothing more than a gossip. You can see the outcome, the court has granted me bail in all the cases. I have always had a clean image. I resigned from the cabinet on moral grounds, as I always wanted to have a clean image.”

One complainant, Ram Gopal Singh from Nalanda district, said: “He did not come to the janata darbar for the past few months. It was good to see him after such a long time. I hope that he would continue doing his job without facing any more charges.”