BJP slammed the Nitish Kumar government today for withdrawing a case against RJD chief Lalu Prasad, his two minister-sons and others for vandalism and stopping government officials during an RJD-sponsored bandh last year and asked whether the step was not tantamount to defamation of Patna High Court, which is hearing the matter.
"Did the state government take permission from Patna High Court which took suo motu cognisance of the issue and is hearing a case before withdrawing the case in the lower court?" senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi asked in a statement released here.
"Will the state government likewise take back thousands of such cases involving agitation by employee unions and citizens who staged protest and jammed road against the state government?" he asked.
Launching a scathing attack against the Nitish Kumar government, Sushil Modi alleged that the state government was working under the "pressure" of Lalu Prasad and that was why it decided to take back case against the RJD leaders out of thousands of such matters.
"Will the Nitish Kumar government withdraw ongoing criminals cases against JD(U) and RJD MPs and MLAs?" he asked.
"Will the state government set free lawbreakers like Mohammad Shahbuddin under pressure from Lalu?" he questioned.
Hitting out at the chief minister, he said, "Nitish Kumar for the sake of chair has to bow before Lalu Prasad and he will have to do so many more times in future too."
The BJP leader's comment came in the backdrop of the chief judicial magistrate's court yesterday accepting the plea of government lawyer for withdrawal of the case against 262 RJD leaders including Lalu Prasad, his sons Tejaswi Yadav and Tej Pratap Yadav besides state party chief Ramchandra Purve related to vandalism.
They had stopped government employees from discharging duty during RJD Bihar bandh on July 27 last year.
Modi also referred to hard-hitting comments of Patna High Court about 10 days back that police were treating lawbreakers during the RJD bandh as if the state government supported the bandh.
Patna High Court, he said, would hear the matter next on February 1, 2016.
