BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi said Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has stopped speaking on corruption and anti-corruption drive does not figure in his seven pledges. (File photo)
BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi today accused the 'Grand Alliance' government of having lack of will to deal with corruption ever since RJD and Congress joined the ruling coalition saying, the anti-graft drive does not even figure in the seven pledges of Nitish Kumar.
"Ever since the RJD, led by fodder scam convict Lalu Prasad, and Congress have become part of the ruling grand alliance and its government in Bihar, the anti-corruption drive has come to a standstill," he said in a statement.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar too has stopped speaking on corruption and anti-corruption drive does not figure in his seven pledges (Saat Nischay), he alleged.
"How many properties of corrupt public servants have been seized in the past three years and schools opened in those premises? How many tainted government servants arrested on graft charge and booked in cases for amassing disproportionate assets sacked?" the former deputy chief minister said.
Pointing to the government's lack of will to hunt down corrupt, the senior BJP leader said the trap cases in anti-corruption drive, which stood at 73 in 2011, has come down to 35-40 in subsequent years and charged the state government of deliberately making the vigilance and other anti-corruption agencies toothless bodies.
The former deputy chief minister claimed the posts of judges in designated vigilance courts at Patna and Muzaffarpur are vacant for the past two years, while the post of Inspector General of Police (IG) in the vigilance department was also vacant, speaking volumes of the state government's reluctance to root out corruption.
Similarly, as against sanctioned strength of the Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) in the vigilance department, there are only eight officers working as on the date, while there are no judges in seven out of ten courts to hear cases related to trap cases, the senior BJP leader said.
"When there are shortage of officers and judges to deal with corruption cases, how come action against corrupt public servants be taken and their cases heard properly in various courts?" Mr Modi wondered.