The Congress on Thursday demanded that the Janata Dal (United) (JD-U) cancel the nomination of Manju Verma for the coming Bihar polls as her husband was an accused in the Muzzafurpur shelter home scandal, where 34 minor girls were sexually abused.
On Wednesday, Ms. Verma’s name figured in the JD(U)’s first list of 115 candidates as the party’s official candidate from the Cheria-Bariyarpur constituency of Begusarai district.
Ms. Verma, who was the Social Welfare Minister in the Nitish Kumar government, had to resign after her husband, Chandrashekhar Verma, was implicated in the shelter home scandal. She was arrested and sent to jail under the Arms Act in November 2018 after the police recovered cartridges from her house when they raided it in connection with the shelter home abuse case. Subsequently, she was granted bail by the Patna High Court.
At a press conference, Mahila Congress chief Sushmita Dev and party spokesperson Supriya Shrinate said the BJP-JD(U) alliance should immediately cancel her candidature if they were ‘serious’ about women security.
Call to PM
“Immediately, they should cancel her candidature. I hope Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji, who consistenly says ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ [Save the girl child and educate them] walks the talk and makes sure that this lady’s candidature is cancelled. Or short of that, if you respects 48 per cent of the population and are serious about women security, you should break this alliance unless they move this lady or withdraw her candidature,” Ms. Dev said.
Ms. Shrinate targeted the BJP and claimed that from Kathua to Hathras, there have been several instances across the country where BJP leaders have come out in support of the perpetrators of crimes against women.
“By announcing her as a candidate in the first list, it shows that all the talk about good governance is a sham,” she said.