New Delhi/Patna, Nov 3 Bihar Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary on Tuesday said there could be some ‘apraadh’ in the state but it has got rid of crimes, a comment that elicited swipes from the opposition RJD.
RJD working president Tejashwi Yadav wondered whether Prime Minister Narendra Modi wished to bring ruin to Bihar through Choudhary.
“Hamare yahan koi apraadh nahi hai. Apraadh ka concept hi khatam ho chuka hai. Crime ho sakte hain, lekin apraadh nahi, koi apraadhi nahi hai (There is no crime here in Bihar. The very concept of crime has been eliminated. There may be a crime, but there is no ‘apraadh’ (offence). There are no criminals,” Choudhary said.
The statement made at an event in Delhi, organised by state-owned NHAI, left many pondering over what he meant, with opposition RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav asking whether Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given a ‘supaari’ (contract) to Choudhary for destroying Bihar.
Yadav, who is the leader of the opposition in the state assembly, shared on X a video clip of the remark made by Choudhary, the first BJP leader to head a government in Bihar.
In the post, Yadav also raked up Choudhary’s alleged criminal antecedents and wondered whether IAS and IPS officers felt honoured or humiliated while working with a CM who had once been named in a case “related to the murder of seven people”.
Choudhary, who began his political career with the RJD, has maintained that he was falsely implicated in the case lodged in the 1990s in his home district Munger.
When Union minister Chirag Paswan was asked about Choudhary’s remark, he refused to be drawn into the controversy but credited the CM, who also holds the Home portfolio, with having “a clear vision on crime control”.
“I believe that being the CM as well as the HM, he must have facts and figures to back his claim. As a Bihari, I would like to see the state become crime-free and emerge as a fertile destination for investors,” said Paswan, who heads Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas).
(PTI News)
