Bihar Assembly Elections: JD (U) women nominees may dent Nitish’s ‘sushasan’ image

JD (U) president and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is never tired of blaming RJD for the ‘Jungle Raj’ in the State between 1990 and 2005.

At the same time, he keeps blowing his own trumpet about how he established the rule of law and ensured ‘sushasan’ (good governance).

But eyebrows have been raised ever since he has fielded woman nominees, with shady past, for the ensuing Assembly polls.

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Take, for instance, the case of Manju Verma, who quit the Nitish Cabinet after her husband Chandeshwar Verma was made a named accused in the Muzaffarpur Shelter Home sex scandal and jailed.

Or, for example, take the case of Manorama Devi, whose son Rocky was awarded life-term after he shot dead a Class XII student Aditya Sachdeva in the infamous road rage incident at Gaya in 2016.

Manorama, a JD (U) MLC, was suspended from the party after her husband Bindi Yadav, who faced 17 criminal cases, including extortion, kidnapping and murder, was arrested along with Rocky, while Manorama was sent to jail for storing liquor at her home in the dry Bihar.

Apparently, all such past (mis) deeds of JD (U) woman legislators seem to have been pushed to the back-burner while giving tickets for the 2020 Assembly polls.

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While Manju Verma has been allotted the JD (U) ticket from Cheria Bariarpur in Begusarai, Manorama Devi has been given ticket from Atri in Gaya as Nitish’s nominee. Her husband Bindi Yadav died of coronavirus in July this year, while her son Rocky is languishing in jail.

Daughter of a truck driver from Punjab, Manorama is a classic case of rags-to-riches story after she declared Rs 89.77 crore as her assets in the affidavit while filing her nominations. In 2015, she had assets worth Rs 12.24 crore.

Her father, while crossing through the GT Road, the earlier avtaar of Prime Minister Quadrilateral Project, would stop at a Gaya ‘dhaba’ (road-side eatery) for food in the late 60s. One day, he married the dhaba owner’s daughter Kabootri Devi.

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Later, he purchased land in Gaya and settled down there. Manorama was born in 1970. She married a local gangster Bindi Yadav, who too used to visit the dhaba and was bitten by the love bug.

Eventually, Bindi’s clout and wealth increased by leaps and bounds as he shuffled from Lalu’s party to Nitish’s JD (U). Today, Manorama Devi is one of the richest JD (U) candidates in the fray in Bihar.

“Those who live in a glass house should not throw stones at others,” said RJD’s Mrityunjay Tiwary, reacting to Nitish’s ‘Jungle Raj’ jibe at the RJD.