The controversy over RJD strongman Md Shahabuddin getting 'VIP facilities' while being shifted to Bhagalpur jail from Siwan yesterday refused to die down with BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi today questioning Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on why a luxury vehicle was used in the process and why it took 12 hours to reach Bhagalpur.
"How come a convicted prisoner like Md Shahabuddin get a luxury vehicle and why did it take 12 hours for the police to shift the RJD strongman to Bhagalpur amid reports that he met a minister and some RJD leaders at Muzaffarpur?" Modi asked in a statement.
The former deputy Chief Minister also took the state government to task for reportedly allowing Shahabuddin to hold a 'janata durbar' at Siwan jail in violation of jail manual, which was found out by top district officials during inspection and the matter reported to IG, Prison Anand Kishore who subsequently issued a notification for the RJD strongman's shifting to Bhagalpur jail at the earliest.
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Modi questioned the state government for lodging Shahabuddin in Siwan district jail when as per rules he should have been held at a central jail as he was convicted for more than five years by a court in a murder case.
Alleging that Shahabuddin enjoyed "patronage of RJD supremo Lalu Prasad" who has nominated the former to his party's national executive recently, Sushil urged the Chief Minister to take up the issue with Prasad.
It may be mentioned that fingers have been raised at Shahabuddin in journalist Rajdeo Ranjan murder case in Siwan last week with his kins demanding security in view of threats from the convicted don.
The senior BJP leader also claimed oneupmanship between
Congress and JD(U) with the former projecting its national vice-president Rahul Gandhi as a "natural" candidate for the PM's post in 2019 general elections whereas JD(U) wanted to project Nitish Kumar as a national alternative to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Similarly, the dispute between RJD and JD(U) was there for all to see as the latter has decided to abstain from RJD's statewide demonstration against demonetisation, he said.
On the impact of demonetisation in Bihar, Modi said there was least impact of the scrapping of high-denomination currency notes as legal tender.
"There is no impact of demonetisation in farm sector as the farmers are able to purchase seeds, fertilisers and other necessary supplements to sow their crops... The farmers has sown crops in 16 lakh hectares of land this rabi season same as last year," he said.
Modi asked the state government to promote 'less cash' economy and digital technology for collection of taxes and said it would not only streamline the economy, but also generate substantiate revenue to the extent of compensating losses arising out of enforcement of liqour ban earlier this year in Bihar.
