PATNA: CPI(ML) Liberation general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya has charged the Nitish Kumar government in Bihar with serving its people a "cocktail" of crime, corruption and communalism, the three "Cs" on which the Chief Minister had promised not to compromise.
In an interview with PTI here, the Left leader described as "scary" the situation in the state, where the longest serving Chief Minister claims to have ended jungle raj that allegedly prevailed under the rule of RJD, an ally of the CPI(ML)-L.
"Nitish ji used to say that he would never compromise on the three Cs : crime, corruption, and communalism after joining hands with the BJP. But his rule displays not just a compromise, but a cocktail of the three Cs", alleged Bhattacharya.
"It is a scary situation in the state, which seems to be run by a nexus between criminal gangs, politicians, and the police. They form a coalition that rules Bihar, and not the NDA."
"Shootouts, reminding one of Bollywood crime thriller Gangs of Wasseypur, have occurred at places like a hospital in Patna," he claimed, referring to the killing of Chandan Mishra in the upscale Paras hospital in Patna in broad daylight, and where the faces of criminals were caught on CCTV.
Bhattacharya, however, dismisses apprehensions that the RJD's track record on law and order, while in power a decade and a half ago, impeded the INDIA bloc's prospects in the poll-bound state.
"The RJD is not what it was decades ago", asserted the CPI(ML) Liberation leader, whose cadre was known to have been involved in bloody feuds with the party headed by Lalu Prasad, the Chief Minister in the 1990s, who later passed over the mantle to his wife Rabri Devi.
Bhattacharya also pointed out that "in the last assembly elections, we had come close to forming the government. We fell short of a majority by just a few seats".