Sushil Kumar Modi

Patna, Nov. 6: Senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi has sought the chief minister’s resignation and recovery of the salary his son-in-law received as his personal assistant (PA) from Jitan Ram Manjhi.

Modi also recalled that when Manjhi was a minister in the Lalu ministry, his staff was caught accepting bribe at the Samastipur circuit house.

The ghost of the past seems to haunt Manjhi whenever he takes oath. When Nitish Kumar came to power for the first time in 2005, Manjhi was sworn in as a minister at Gandhi Maidan only to be dropped by evening. Someone remembered that he faced a vigilance probe in the BEd scam. Manjhi was made minister 30 months later when a probe cleared his name.

On Tuesday, Modi demanded Manjhi’s resignation on moral grounds and institution of a case against him under Section 420 of IPC. “While recommending the name of persons for appointment as personal staff one has to give in writing that he or she is not a relative. Did Manjhi give such an undertaking in writing? If he did, he has cheated,” Modi said. He displayed the recommendation he had made to the government for appointing his PA, where he clearly states that the person he was recommending to the post was not related to him.

Attacking Manjhi for appointing his son-in-law as his PA, Modi said: “The appointment of Manjhi’s son-in-law, Devendra Kumar, as his PA is a highly unethical, immoral and an unconstitutional step.”

Citing the May 2000 circular, Modi said that no person (chief minister, ministers or person holding the post of chairman of board or corporation) can appoint her or her relative as personal assistant or other staff in his department and for this the concerned person has to submit an affidavit before Cabinet Coordination department. “In Manjhi’s case he has intentionally appointed his son-in-law as his PA, so a case of forgery under Section 420 of IPC should be lodged against Manjhi for giving false affidavits,” Modi said.

According to the cabinet coordination department, the notice regarding appointment of Devendra and three others, including one Satyendra Kumar (Manjhi’s nephew) was issued on June 4, 2014. As per cabinet coordination department, Devendra was appointed as PA to chief minister on a pay scale of Rs 9,300-34,800, while Satyendra was appointed as peon on a pay scale of Rs 5,200-20,200. The BJP leader said the government should recover from Manjhi’s account money that Devendra and Satyendra drew as salary, as the chief minister had submitted false affidavits.

Ironically, Manjhi’s past became another stick for the BJP to get back at Nitish, as it was suggested that the relevant papers were deliberately leaked to the media to put Manjhi in a corner. Also, the JDU has come out with a very weak defence of Manjhi. The JSU’s state spokesperson, Sanjay Singh, said: “The Bihar chief minister was unaware of the circular prohibiting appointment of relatives. When he came to know about the circular, he himself sought his son-in-law’s resignation.”

The JDU’s attention seems more on deflecting criticism that Nitish plotted Manjhi’s exit than defending the latter.

Water resources minister and senior JDU leader Vijay Kumar Chaudhary attacked Modi and called him a confused person. He said: “On the one hand Modi is attacking Manjhi for appointing his son-in-law as PA and on the other he is accusing Nitish of conspiracy.” Chaudhary also denied any meeting of JDU leaders with Sharad Yadav to demand Manjhi’s removal from the chief minister’s post.