PATNA: Bihar’s main Opposition party RJD and the Sharad Yadav-led faction of the state’s ruling JD(U) on Tuesday attacked chief minister Nitish Kumar over a question in the written examination for recruiting police constables that asked which is the political party whose national president is Kumar.
The multiple-choice question, which figured as question number 13 in the question paper, offered four options as answer - RJD, Congress, JD(U) and BCP. The incident was seen by both Lalu Prasad Yadav’s RJD and the Sharad Yadav faction of JD(U) as the chief minister’s attempts to refurbish his image after recent dents and a step towards political polarisation of the state’s police force, particularly the constabulary.
The Sharad Yadav-led faction of JD(U), which claims to be the “original and genuine Janata Dal (United),” targeted the chief minister, saying Kumar was “desperately trying to propagate a lie” that he is the national president of JD(U).Describing the controversial question as “an attempt to politically polarise Bihar’s police force,” RJD spokesperson and MLA Shakti Singh Yadav said: “Nitish Kumar, who allowed the `1,200-crore Srijan NGO scam take place under his watch between 2006 and 2016, is trying to endear himself to the police force. We will begin a protest movement against this incident”.
“RJD has been so demoralized that it sees politics in everything. There is nothing wrong in the question concerned. Nitish Kumar remains a national icon for his good governance that transformed Bihar,” said JD(U) spokesperson and MLC Sanjay Singh. The first phase of the recruitment examinations, which would fill 9,900 vacant posts of police constables in Bihar, was held on Sunday. The examinations, conducted by Central Selection Board for Constables, were surrounded by controversy amid claims of leak of question papers.