RJD leader embarrasses Nitish govt, says he feels like 'chorona ka sardar'

The Nitish Kumar government in Bihar was left embarrassed on Tuesday over the reported candid admission of rampant corruption by the state's Minister for Agriculture Sudhakar Singh.

Singh, whose remarks at a public meeting two days ago have gone viral, dug in his heels even as the BJP, which had been gunning for him till recently, said his averment was an "eye-opener" and the chief minister should come out with a white paper on corruption.

"I stick to what I have said and I seek to make no amendments (sanshodhan). I have been elected by the people towards whom I have a responsibility," said Singh when he was approached by journalists here in connection with remarks he made at Kaimur two days ago.

In the video footage, the 46 years old RJD leader can be seen saying he felt like a "choron ka sardar" (leader of thieves), heading a department that "seemed full of thieves". "And there are thieves above me as well", Singh was seen declaiming in the video and invoking Lohia to assert "when the legislature turns rogue, people must take to the streets".

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The 'Mahagathbandhan', the seven-party ruling alliance, was predictably peeved but reluctant to come on record against the RJD leader whose father Jagadanand Singh is the party's state unit chief and a trusted aide of Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav. BJP, which had been seeking the removal of Singh ever since he became a minister a month ago, latched on to the opportunity thrown up by his alleged comments.

"What the agriculture minister has said is an eye opener and serves as a mirror to the self-obsessed chief minister under whose rule red tapism has been rampant and bureaucrats have been refusing to listen to even ministers", state BJP spokesman Nikhil Anand said in a statement.

"It is high time that the chief minister gave up living in denial on the issue of corruption under his rule and set up a high level committee to prepare a white paper on the same," demanded the BJP leader whose party had been Kumar's ally till his exit from the NDA.