The state unit of the BJP has said that seniour Congress leader Jagganath Mishra could not plead innocence in the animal husbandry scam as he had been the Chief Minister thrice and was also the leader of the opposition for three years since 1990.
According to Mishra, his name had been dragged into the fodder scam, with which he was not even remotely concerned. I am totally innocent and the allegations levelled against me are false, frivolous and intended to harm my reputation.
However, the BJP is not satisfied. Leader of opposition, Sushil Kumar Modi, and state BJP general secretary, Saryu Roy, said the people of Bihar still remember how Mishra had pawned the Gandhi Maidan and Patna Railway junction, besides thet urban bank scandal, which had taken place during his regime.
Both the leaders maintained that it was during the regime of Mishra that corruption and overdrawals in the AHD was institutionalised. It was during 1981-82 that excess withdrawals in the AHD started taking place and Mishra deliberately turned a nelsons eye to the happenings in the department. According to them Rs 26 lakh was fraudulently withdrawn in 1981-82, Rs 4.06 crore in 1982-83, Rs 31 lakh in 1983-84, Rs 3.77 crore in 1984-85, Rs 4.42 crore in 1985-86, Rs 5.88 crore in 1986-87, Rs 8.62 crore in 1987-88, Rs 7.71 crore and Rs 9.78 crore respectively during the 1988-89 and 1989-90.
The leaders also alleged that Mishra, in the capacity of Chief Minister, had appointed Vishwapati Sitaram Singh as director of the AHD when serious charges of corruption were pending against him. They asserted that like Laloo Prasad Yadav, Mishra too had close relations with scamsters and fake suppliers and pointed that one of the accused, K N Jha, was a close relative of the Congress leader.
The BJP leaders alleged that prior to 1990, Laloo Prasad Yadav used to write sponsored letters as leader of the opposition and Mishra issued positive orders as the Chief Minister. However, the role was reversed in 1990 when Yadav became the Chief Minister and Mishra the leader of opposition. The BJP leaders mentioned the recommendation letter written by Mishra recommending extension of service of S B Sinha - the alleged kingpin of the scandal.
Meanwhile, Dipesh Chandak, a Calcutta based supplier facing trial in his confessional statement before first class judicial magistrate, Dhanbad, Anjani Kumar Verma, in case no 20/96 has named several politicians including Jagannath Mishra, Rajo Singh and Jagdish Sharma, as having been paid money. Chandak in his statement had mentioned that the Chief Minister had received money from S B Sinha in order to purchase legislators to become the Chief Minister in 1990.
