PATNA: Former Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi on Monday sprang a surprise by appearing angry with the media and asking journalists if they had got an electric shock.
“Mediawalon ko current lag gaya hai kya” (Have journalists got an electric shock?” shot back Devi, a member of the State Legislative Council, when a group of journalists asked her a question when she was entering the legislative building.
Devi, who is the wife of RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav and mother of two Bihar ministers in the Nitish Kumar-led coalition government, repeated her question at the shocked journalists before giving a curt reply after a long pause.
The journalists sought to know her opinion about the strong resentment displayed by bureaucrats in the State over the arrest of one of their colleagues Sudhir Kumar in the BSSC question paper leak case. The Bihar unit of the IAS Officers Association had on Sunday evening met Governor Ram Nath Kovind after holding a three-hour meeting and demanded that the probe into the case be transferred to Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
Lalu Prasad Yadav had said on Sunday the second time that Sudhir Kumar is an “upright bureaucrat”. When journalists asked Devi if she also thought Sudhir Kumar is an “upright bureaucrat”, she merely said: “Yes, he is”.
In the State Assembly, the Opposition BJP created a ruckus over the probe being conducted into the leak of question papers of recruitment examinations conducted by Bihar Staff Selection Commission (BSSC) earlier this month. Both BSSC secretary Paramseshwar Ram and chairperson Sudhir Kumar have been arrested and lodged in jail for their alleged involvement.
“The government must declare the names of the ministers and MLAs who played a role in the leak of question papers,” said Prem Kumar, the leader of Opposition in the Assembly. BJP legislators displayed placards with similar demands written on them. Assembly Speaker Vijay Kumar Chaudhary said it was not the right time for the Opposition legislators to raise the issue in the Assembly.
BJP legislators demanded that the probe into the question paper leak case be handed over to CBI for an impartial probe. An angry minister Shrawan Kumar chastised Prem Kumar, asking him to present evidence in the Assembly about the alleged involvement of ministers and legislators.
The ruckus caused delay in the presentation of the State budget. Finance minister Abdul Bari Siddiqui presented the Budget in the afternoon.