Sharad Yadav

July 23: The JD(U) president, Sharad Yadav, today said it would not be fair to allege an opposition conspiracy in the midday meal tragedy before the probe was over, striking a different note from chief minister Nitish Kumar and his party colleagues in the state.

“Conspiracy cannot be said till the probe is over. After the probe we don’t have to speak anything. The probe will speak for itself,” Yadav said when asked if he too saw an opposition conspiracy to defame the state government.

When pointed out that education minister P.K. Shahi had directly blamed the Opposition for the tragedy and refrained from taking responsibility, Yadav said the responsibility to avoid recurrence of such incidents rests with the state government.

“Jimmewari hamari hai (responsibility is ours),” he said, adding that it was the responsibility of the state government to provide proper food to children coming to school. Yadav, unlike the other JD(U) leaders, refrained from any political attack against either the RJD or the JD(U).

Party state president Bashishtha Narayan Singh differed from Yadav. A day after a delegation of the JD(U) leaders returned from Dharmasati-Gandaman village, he said the incident was the fallout of a deep-rooted conspiracy hatched by the BJP and the RJD.

The Opposition leaders immediately expressed doubts over an impartial probe into the death of 23 students of Gandaman Primary School in Saran district after the ruling JD(U) accused the BJP and the RJD of hatching a conspiracy. Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly and BJP leader Nand Kishore Yadav said: “The formation of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) is just an eyewash. It is meaningless in the sense that the SIT has been assigned to probe the incident a day after the ruling party (education) minister, P.K. Shahi, alleged that the incident was a part of well-planned conspiracy. How can a police team probe fearlessly when its minister has already jumped to the conclusion?” he asked.

The chief whip of the RJD, Samrat Choudhary, said it seemed that the chief minister has already hinted at the line of investigation the SIT has to proceed. “The SIT works under the government. How can it defy its diktat?” he asked.

Director-general of police Abhayanand, however, said the police would unravel the truth. “The police headquarters felt the need of the SIT after the forensic report confirmed the presence of poisonous pesticide — monocrotophos — in the samples of oil and food collected from the spot,” he said, adding that the police investigation would be based on evidence and not on mere statements.