Bihar’s Education Minister Mewalal Choudhary resigned three days after taking the oath
Patna:
Days after Bihar’s newly sworn-in Education Minister and JDU leader Mewalal Choudhary was forced to resign over a three-year corruption case, an interesting question arose. Who, really, was behind the resignation of the two-time MLA from the electoral district of Tarapur?
On Thursday it seemed that the opposition was; the RJD of Tejashwi Yadav had pointed out the corruption case. JDU ally BJP also claimed credit, and party chief JP Nadda indicated that Choudhary’s resignation had been demanded and Nitish Kumar was pressured to do so. Meanwhile, Kumar’s spokesman said the dismissal was an example for other ministers and members of the judiciary.
On Saturday, however, Ashok Choudhary of the JDU, who is interim president and has five cabinet seats, appeared to have a different answer, one that did not rule out BJP involvement.
“This is the NDA. So what’s wrong with what you’re saying?” Choudhary told reporters when asked about Nadda’s comment about the JDU being pressured to act by the BJP.
The BJP and JDU lead the NDA (National Democratic Alliance) which has retained power in Bihar after the Assembly elections earlier this month. However, their roles have been reversed; the JDU has been relegated to junior status after it claimed just 43 seats to the BJP’s 74.
On Thursday, when Mewalal Choudhary resigned, several BJP leaders claimed credit for the party.
They claimed that when Nitish Kumar met Choudhary a day earlier, there was no talk of resignation. Only after the Chief Minister realized the seriousness of the charges and the BJP was clearly unhappy with the continuation of Mr. Choudhary was his resignation requested.
However, Ashok Choudhary stated today that the Chief Minister had taken action as early as Tuesday when he was informed of the charges against his new minister and that the police had asked permission to file a charge sheet in the case.
He added that the Chief Minister then spoke with Mewalal Choudhary and requested his resignation.
At the heart of this matter is a criminal case brought against Mewalal Choudhary in 2017, following allegations that he was involved in irregularities in appointments to the positions of assistant professor and junior scientists as vice chancellor of the Bhagalpur University of Agriculture.
He was suspended from the party for a time after ridicule from the BJP, who was then in the opposition camp. The case was closed and investigations were carried out against him after the sanction of President Ram Nath Kovind, who was then the Governor of Bihar.
In his defense, Mr. Choudhary said that the presentation of a case is not an indication of guilt. “There are so many cases against so many legislators,” he had said, adding that he had not included the matter in his election affidavit because “the investigation is ongoing. Nothing has happened.”
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