Patna: Allies as well as rivals grabbed the theft at the residence of BJP MLA Arun Kumar as a stick to get at chief minister Nitish Kumar.

The surprise attack came from BJP MP Chhedi Paswan, who not only criticised Nitish's governance on account of law and order, but also on the state of education in Bihar. "Policing seems to have collapsed," said Paswan. He questioned Nitish Kumar's governance, stressing that something was wrong.

RJD's national spokesperson Shivanand Tiwari said theft in the house of BJP MLA Arun Kumar was a serious matter. "If theft can take place in the house of a senior MLA of the ruling party, one can imagine the plight of common man in the state capital. It is not surprising that burglary starts taking place in large numbers," said Tiwari. Even Congress spokesperson Premchandra Mishra expressed concern over the matter, saying that nobody was safe in Bihar.

JDU took strong exception to the utterance of Chhedi Paswan. "He (Chhedi) should remember that his parliamentary constituency, Sasaram, was the worst crime-hit area of Bihar before Nitish Kumar came to power," said JDU MLC Neeraj Kumar. He dismissed the statement of RJD leader Shivanand Tiwari. "It's like chor machaye shor. Tiwariji should not forget the large number of extortions and state-sponsored crime which took place in Patna during the RJD regime," he said.

However, despite putting a brave face, BJP leaders privately conceded that the theft at Arun Kumar's house was an embarrassment. Arun Kumar represents Kumhrar Assembly segment in Patna and is also the chief whip of the party in the House. "His house is located in Kadamkuan, which is considered posh and safe," said a BJP MLA. Patna police, which sent a forensic team after the theft, is still groping in the dark.

The Kadamkuan police station have detained around half a dozen persons in connection with theft at BJP MLA Arun Kumar Sinha flat at Ram Vilas Enclave at Lohanipur under Kadamkuan police station area.

Kadamkuan police station, station house officer, Ajay Kumar said: "The police have detained around half a dozen persons mainly youngsters. We are matching the finger prints of detained persons with the finger prints recovered from the spot."