Shyam Bahadur Singh

Patna, Feb. 10: The Janata Dal (United) was caught on the backfoot as one of its MLAs, Shyambahadur Singh, was shown on television dancing with nautch girls at a marriage party held on February 8.

The MLA himself was unmoved by the hue and cry raised by the media. “What is there to make a hue and cry about? People in our area dance and sing at in cultural shows in marriage functions,” he said, stressing that he was actually dancing with “artistes” at the function. He insisted that he had done no wrong. “The people of my constituency know that I have not done anything wrong,” he said.

The incident occurred in Gopalganj district where the MLA had gone to attend the marriage of a relative of a brick manufacturing unit owner Ajay Kumar Singh. The MLA represents Badharia Assembly segment of Siwan district. He has won the seat twice.

The incident comes close on the heels of the embarrassment for the BJP — the JD(U)’s alliance partner — in Karnataka where three of its ministers had to resign over a porn-watching scandal.

Bihar JD(U) president Basistha Narayan Singh said he had just come to know about the incident. “I will probe the matter and if necessary I will issue him a warning. Leaders of our party are not supposed to make public displays like this,” he said.

Shyambahadur has actually repeated his feat. In 2010, he was shown dancing with nautch girls at his official residence in Patna just before a rally organised in the city by his party. The JD(U) had then issued a showcause to him even as Singh claimed that “dancing was a cultural event”. In spite of the showcause, the party gave him a ticket again in the last Assembly polls and Shyambahadur won by a larger margin over 2005. “Whatever the media may say about him, Shyambahadur Singh is an honest man. He is easily available for people of his constituency. That is why he is so popular and will win in his constituency even as an Independent,” a JD(U) leader said.

. Basically he is a simpleton,” said a senior JD(U) leader, who was not willing to be quoted.

The nautch girl culture was rampant during the Lalu Prasad-Rabri Devi era. Nautch girls were called by RJD party leaders and MLAs to Patna to entertain participants at rallies who had come from their respective constituencies. During that period, both the BJP and JD(U) had frowned on the “vulgar culture”.