Vijay Kumar Rai’s mother Anjoria Devi pays tribute to the martyr at Bihpur Ghat in Patna on Thursday. Telegraph picture

Patna, Aug. 8: Charges of insensitivity returned to haunt the Nitish Kumar government after state ministers chose not to be present at the airport when the bodies of the four slain soldiers were flown in last night and then turning up late for the state funerals that were held in the native villages of the martyrs today.

Not a single minister was present at the airport when the coffins carrying the bodies of the soldiers — Lance Naik Shambhu Sharan Rai, Naik Prem Nath Singh, and sepoys Vijay Kumar Rai and Raghunandan Prasad — were brought from Delhi late on Wednesday night. The jawans were killed allegedly by Pakistan armymen near the LoC in Poonch sector of Kashmir on Tuesday.

Adding to the government’s discomfort, rural works minister Bhim Singh today said that those who joined the army and police are supposed to be martyred.

He didn’t stop there. Singh became personal when reporters asked him why Bihar ministers didn’t have the courtesy to visit the airport last night. “Did your mother or father go there,” he retorted.

The chief minister, who was in Delhi, was quick to rebuke Singh and asked him to apologise.

Singh soon issued a statement, saying: “I regret what I had said earlier.”

Nitish, who has been criticised for failing to visit the Saran village where 23 children died after eating the school midday meal last month, tried to contain the damage.

“I was pained at the statement of my minister,” he said on his return to Patna this evening. “When I came to know about it, I telephoned him immediately and asked him to apologise. As far as the airport matter is concerned, our officials were present to receive the bodies. The DM was there. The cabinet secretary was there. The commissioner was there. However, I agree that ministers should also have been at the airport. There should be no division on this issue and we should maintain unity. Today, ministers were designated to be present at all the four funerals which took place in Bihar.”

Designated they may have been, but the ministers cut a sorry figure there as well.

In Ara and Danapur, where the homes of Shambhu Sharan Rai and Vijay Kumar Rai are located, ministers Shyam Rajak and Renu Devi were vastly outnumbered by BJP and RJD leaders.

In Danapur, BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad and local RJD legislator Bhai Birendar were seen assuring the family members of Vijay Kumar Rai of their support. The JD(U) men were nowhere to be seen.

In Chhapra, the home of Prem Nath Singh and Sepoy Raghunandan Prasad, the two ministers designated — Narendra Singh and Awadhesh Kushwaha — reached late, after the funeral rituals were over.

“We started from Patna at 7am but got stuck in a jam. We were forced to take another route. It is raining heavily and movement of cars is slow,” Kushwaha offered by way of explanation to The Telegraph around 4.30pm.

Till then, the ministers had been able to go only to Nawtan village, the home of Raghunandan Prasad, and hand over a cheque of Rs 10 lakh to his mother Meera Devi.

The Opposition was quick to attack the government.

“The ministers could not even find time to go to the airport on Wednesday night when the bodies of the four soldiers were brought,” said RJD MP Ram Kripal Yadav, declaring that it not only reflected the insensitivity of Nitish and his ministers, but also their arrogance.

Tracksuit row

Patna zonal inspector-general of police Sushil Khopre today issued a showcause notice against deputy superintendent (Sachivalaya) Manish Kumar, who surfaced at the airport on Wednesday night in a tracksuit. Kumar has been asked to reply within three days.