The allegations that date back to 2017 are related to Mewalal Chaudhary’s term as the Vice-Chancellor of the Bihar Agricultural University located in Bhagalpur district.
Mewalal Chaudhary's quick resignation is seen by many as an embarrassment for Nitish Kumar. (Photo: Mewalal Chaudhary/Facebook) It seems despite winning the nail-biting state elections, Nitish Kumar’s fourth consecutive term as Chief Minister of Bihar won’t go as hurdle-free as he intended it to be. It has been less than a week since the oath-taking ceremony and the Bihar government has already suffered a resignation. In what can be termed as an embarrassment for Nitish Kumar, Mewalal Chaudhary, the new education minister resigned from the government amid intense Opposition protest over corruption allegations. Many are seeing this as a moral victory of the RJD, which is the main Opposition party in Bihar.
The allegations that date back to 2017 are related to Chaudhary’s term as the Vice-Chancellor of the Bihar Agricultural University located in Bhagalpur district. Chaudhary along with 55 others have been charged with misappropriation of power and appointing nearly 170 junior scientists at the University during his tenure. Chaudhary was appointed as the Vice-Chancellor of the agriculture university in 2010. He resigned from the post in 2015 to contest the Assembly elections that year.
Some say that the caste factor has also played an important role in the latest development. Chaudhary, who belongs to Kushwaha community, doesn’t have the kind of stronghold. Hence, some say that Nitish Kumar accepted the resignation to silence the Opposition.
Chaudhary, on his part, remained, maintained that there was ‘no case’ as no chargesheet was filed by the local police till date. He also said that there was no court order and it proved that there was no case. He said that in absence of the FIR or the court order, no allegation can be proven. He remained defiant and didn’t specify the exact reason for his resignation while talking to the media persons in Patna on Thursday.
On November 11, the NDA won the elections with 125 seats. The JDU won just 43 seats. Many said that this would put the BJP in role of big brother in the state. With two deputy chief ministers, It would be interesting to see how freely will ‘Sushasan babu’ rule Bihar.
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