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Bihar firmly in grip of 'jungle raj-2', claims Ram Vilas Paswan

He said his party (LJP) will take stock of the deteriorating law and order situation.

Patna: Expressing concern over spurt in crime ever since the Grand Secular Alliance government came to power with a thumping majority two months back, Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan today claimed that Bihar was firmly in the grip of 'jungle raj-2' and threatened statewide agitation by his Lok Janshakti Party.

"Bihar is firmly in the grip of 'jungle raj-2' given spate in crime comprising, murder, loot, dacoity and extortion in the past two months...the people of Bihar are living in an atmosphere of constant fear," he told reporters.

Paswan said his party (LJP) will take stock of the deteriorating law and order situation tonight after returning from his parliamentary constituency, Hajipur, and chalk out programme for statewide agitation on law and order issue.

The date of agitation and its nature will be decided in due course of time, the Union Minister said.

Expressing grief at the prevailing 'lawlessness' in Bihar, he said he was at a loss for words to describe the situation and asked the mediapersons to coin a new phrase to define the prevailing situation in Bihar.

Elaborating on the deteriorating law and order situation, the Union Minister said three engineers, two of them from a road construction company, and several police officials have been killed by the criminals in the past couple of weeks. Even lawmakers are not safe as they receive calls for extortion and are issued threat to their lives if they failed to cough up the money.

Taking a dig at the RJD and its supremo Lalu Prasad, Paswan said the criminals and anti social elements felt emboldened to take on the law under the present dispensation, including the RJD is a key constituent, they will continue to get patronage from it.

The LJP supremo did not spare Lalu Prasad's two minister sons - Tej Pratap Yadav and Tejaswi Yadav, alleging that two siblings were unable to provide safety and security to their constituents in Vaishali districts.

It may be mentioned that Tej Pratap Yadav and Tejaswi Yadav, who is the deputy chief minister in the Nitish Kumar government, represent Mahua and Raghopur assembly seats in Vaishali district.

Apparently seeking to drive a wedge between Lalu Prasad and Nitish Kumar, Paswan charged the RJD supremo with acting like 'Super CM' and not allowing the Chief Minister to function independently as the two appeared to be in the midst of a fight for supremacy.

Having known Lalu Prasad for decades, the LJP supremo said that he was in a position to say that the RJD chief was not known to play second fiddle to anyone.

"It has been due to a battle for supremo between Lalu Prasad and Nitish Kumar that government, particularly law and order situation, has been a casualty," Paswan said, adding that he stood by his earlier stand that the Grand Alliance government will not last long given the contradiction between the RJD and JD(U).

The Union Food and Consumer Affairs minister also took the Chief Minister to task for presiding over a 'puppet government' and appearing to be helpless to run the government with efficiency and asked him to quit if he was not in a position to deliver the goods and bring the law and order situation under control.

Paswan further mocked the chief minister for wearing a hat of 'Sushashanbabu' (a leader who represents good governance) and said he has no right to claim such a tag as he has been found short of being authoritative while leader of the Grand Alliance government in which the RJD with 80 MLAs was the leading constituent.

The Chief Minister does not have a free hand to rule Bihar under the influence of an overbearing RJD chief who issues instructions to the officials and visits government premises, including the Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS) in the state capital, the LJP supremo asked Kumar to quit for his own good if he can not lead Bihar from the front.

Paswan mocked the Chief Minister for his promise to usher in industrial development in Bihar and asked as to who will invest in the state under present circumstances when the engineers and policemen were being killed and doctors, contractors and others being harassed and asked to pay ransom by the organised criminal gangs being patronised by a section of the Nitish Kumar government itself, he said pointing fingers at the RJD.

( Source : PTI )
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