Union minister Upendra Kushwaha Tuesday launched a veiled attack on Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, claiming criminals in the state appeared to have no fear of law.
The RLSP chief, who recently stated that Kumar should not stake claim for a fourth consecutive term, made the remarks in Hajipur, the district headquarters of Vaishali, where he had gone to meet the family members of a slain party worker.
Manish Sahani, the district president of the RLSP's extremely backward castes cell, was shot dead by two unidentified gunmen on August 13 when he was walking out of his office, which is located near a police station.
"Killings and murders are taking place... The chief minister should himself take cognizance of such incidents and discuss with his officials why such lawlessness is prevailing in the state," Kushwaha told reporters.
"It seems the fear of law has disappeared from the minds of criminals operating in Bihar. It is a challenge before the administration," he added.
The comment on the NDA government in the state by the leader whose party is a part of the coalition assumes political significance.
Kushwaha's party has of late been raising demands that it be given more weightage than Kumar's JD(U), pointing towards the larger population of koeris (Kushwaha's caste) than Kurmis (Kumar's caste).
The Union minister has also dropped hints, in recent times, that he may consider switching over to the opposition RJD-Congress combine if he gets a better deal even though he continues to stress his loyalty towards the BJP-led NDA, which he had joined ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha poll.
Kushwaha quit the JD(U) in 2013 and floated his own outfit.
The return of Kumar to the NDA, last year, is believed to have caused uneasiness within the RLSP, which comprises mostly former JD(U) dissidents.
Meanwhile, senior BJP leader and Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi asserted that law and order has improved in the state since Kumar left the Grand Alliance, comprising the RJD and the Congress, and returned to the NDA.
"Since October last year, there has been a close monitoring of incidents of crime. Altogether 1.77 lakh people have been put behind bars for various offences. Good policing has resulted in a 13.9 per cent decrease in cases of kidnapping, a fall of 31.82 per cent in the incidence of rapes and a drop of 12.18 per cent in arocities against Dalits," Modi tweeted.
"The state has also been successful in reining in naxal violence. Earlier, Bihar was placed second among the states affected by ultra-Left violence but now it occupies the fifth position. As against 100 incidents of naxal-related violence in 2016 and 71 in 2017, there have been only 25 such instances so far this year. Many top naxal leaders' properties have been attached", he said.
Modi also trained his guns at the RJD-Congress combine for "blowing stray incidents out of proportion and defaming Bihar" and "showing sympathy for naxals who are involved in a conspiracy to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi".
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