Rift in Das cabinet: Disgruntled Saryu heads to Delhi to meet Shah
TNN | Feb 8, 2019, 00:00 IST
Ranchi: Saryu Rai, a minister in the Raghubar Das cabinet, skipped the penultimate day of the budget session on Thursday and left for New Delhi to meet BJP’s central leadership. Though Rai is scheduled to meet Union minister for food and civil supplies Ram Vilas Paswan, he will also try to meet BJP president Amit Shah to apprise him of the political situation in the state and make him aware about “lapses in governance”.
Talking to TOI before leaving for Delhi, Rai said he is ready to step down if he is a misfit in the state government. “I have written to the chief minister seeking action against erring bureaucrats and also identified issues that could bring the government in legal trouble. However, no action has been taken. I feel that I could be misfit in the work culture that the government has adopted,” he said.
Expressing his disgruntlement while talking to a local TV channel on Wednesday, Rai had said he is “ashamed of being a part of this cabinet”. The opposition latched on to his remark and condemned the treasury benches in the assembly on Thursday and demanded the CM’s resignation.
Congress MLA Sukhdeo Bhagat said: “Corruption has become so rampant in the government that it is not just the opposition but even cabinet ministers who are feeling uneasy and expect the CM to take action. But the CM is patronising the corrupt, and the minister seems to be helpless.”
Rai has in the past raised various issues related to corruption. Rai's differences with the government emerged over former chief secretary Rajbala Verma. Later the rift widened when advocate general was criticised by Rai for allowing Shah brothers to pay penalty on illegal mining in parts without taking the govt into confidence.
Rai brought to the CM’s notice that the advocate general was not representing the government properly in the court and was also taking decisions on his own.
He further said that the AG convened a meeting of the state bar council and got a condemnation note passed against him (Rai). “The AG is an appointee of the government and if he gets the bar to pass a condemnation note against a minister, the government should have taken action against him. I am ready to explain my part before the government and the bar as well, but if the government is not taking any action or delaying it, I may be misfit in the present set of circumstances,” he said.
BJP state spokesperson Pratul Shahdeo said that there are platforms within the party to raise such issues. “No one should go to the public or to the media to vent their ire. BJP is a disciplined party,” he said.
Rai had offered to step down from ministry in August 2017 after meeting PM Narendra Modi, but continued after his insistence. Last year in February, Rai finally relinquished his responsibilities as ministry of parliamentary affairs and kept the portfolio of food, public distribution and consumer affairs.
Talking to TOI before leaving for Delhi, Rai said he is ready to step down if he is a misfit in the state government. “I have written to the chief minister seeking action against erring bureaucrats and also identified issues that could bring the government in legal trouble. However, no action has been taken. I feel that I could be misfit in the work culture that the government has adopted,” he said.
Expressing his disgruntlement while talking to a local TV channel on Wednesday, Rai had said he is “ashamed of being a part of this cabinet”. The opposition latched on to his remark and condemned the treasury benches in the assembly on Thursday and demanded the CM’s resignation.
Congress MLA Sukhdeo Bhagat said: “Corruption has become so rampant in the government that it is not just the opposition but even cabinet ministers who are feeling uneasy and expect the CM to take action. But the CM is patronising the corrupt, and the minister seems to be helpless.”
Rai has in the past raised various issues related to corruption. Rai's differences with the government emerged over former chief secretary Rajbala Verma. Later the rift widened when advocate general was criticised by Rai for allowing Shah brothers to pay penalty on illegal mining in parts without taking the govt into confidence.
Rai brought to the CM’s notice that the advocate general was not representing the government properly in the court and was also taking decisions on his own.
He further said that the AG convened a meeting of the state bar council and got a condemnation note passed against him (Rai). “The AG is an appointee of the government and if he gets the bar to pass a condemnation note against a minister, the government should have taken action against him. I am ready to explain my part before the government and the bar as well, but if the government is not taking any action or delaying it, I may be misfit in the present set of circumstances,” he said.
BJP state spokesperson Pratul Shahdeo said that there are platforms within the party to raise such issues. “No one should go to the public or to the media to vent their ire. BJP is a disciplined party,” he said.
Rai had offered to step down from ministry in August 2017 after meeting PM Narendra Modi, but continued after his insistence. Last year in February, Rai finally relinquished his responsibilities as ministry of parliamentary affairs and kept the portfolio of food, public distribution and consumer affairs.
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