NEW DELHI: Union Minister and Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) chief Chirag Paswan on Thursday expressed concern over the deteriorating law and order situation in poll-bound Bihar, hours after meeting BJP national president JP Nadda.
His response came after a gang of five criminals attempted to murder a prisoner out on parole for medical treatment, admitted in a private hospital in Patna.
This is the second time when Chirag Paswan, whose party is one of the allies of NDA in both the state and at the Centre, has expressed his deep concern on law and order in Bihar.
Bihar is a few months away from going in the polls for its 243-member legislative assembly this year.
Sources said that both Nadda and Chirag discussed the political situation of Bihar amid growing crimes in the poll-bound state. No official statement was released following the meeting.
Later in a post on X, Paswan said the law-and-order situation in the state has become a matter of "grave concern" as murders are happening everyday, the morale of criminals seems to be sky-high.
Raising a question about the functioning of Bihar police, he said, “The working style of the police and administration is beyond comprehension. The incident of criminals entering Paras hospital and firing openly is the proof that criminals are now directly challenging the law and administration”, he said.
He also expressed grave concern about the rise in crimes ahead of the polls. “The increasing criminal cases just before the Bihar assembly elections are worrying. It is hoped that administration will soon take concrete and strict steps to bring law and order back on track”, he remarked.
The Chief Minister, Nitish Kumar, holds the charge of the home department and Paswan’s statement indirectly seems to be aimed at attracting Kumar’s attention to the state’s law and order.
The RJD-led Opposition in Bihar, which is gradually getting surcharged with political heat, has started attacking the NDA government over the law and order problem, on which the NDA used to attack RJD government, terming it as “Jungle Raj”.