Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's fourth term started with the resignation of a minister, three days after he and his 14-member Cabinet took oath.
Patna: Bihar's Education minister Mewalal Choudhary, mired in corruption charges, submitted his resignation on Thursday within days of taking oath. He submitted his resignation after meeting Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
"An accusation is proven only when a chargesheet is filed or a court gives an order and none of the two is there to prove the allegations against me," news agency ANI quoted Choudhary as saying earlier in the day.
Even after taking oath, Mewalal has been under severe scrutiny of the RJD-led opposition. Recently, Tejashwi's party posted a series of tweets pointing that the lawmaker who won from the Tarapaur constituency was expelled from the Janata Dal-United in 2017 over corruption charges. He was re-inducted in the party later.
"The corrupt JDU MLA Mewalal has been given a ministerial position by Nitish Kumar. This is the double standard of Nitish Kumar," the RJD said in a tweet.
मा. मुख्यमंत्री जी,
जनादेश के माध्यम से बिहार ने हमें एक आदेश दिया है कि आपकी भ्रष्ट नीति, नीयत और नियम के खिलाफ आपको आगाह करते रहें। महज एक इस्तीफे से बात नहीं बनेगी। अभी तो 19 लाख नौकरी,संविदा और समान काम-समान वेतन जैसे अनेकों जन सरोकार के मुद्दों पर मिलेंगे। जय बिहार,जय हिन्द
Choudhary, 67, was suspended from the JD(U) in 2017 after an FIR was registered against him over alleged irregularities in appointments during his tenure as the Vice Chancellor of the Bihar Agriculture University, Sabour in Bhagalpur district.
The FIR was registered against him in February that year on the basis of a report by the then VC over some anomalies in the appointment of Assistant Professors and junior scientists. BJP which was in the opposition during the Grand Alliance ministry then had strongly raised the issue against Choudhary.