File photo: Former Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar
A tussle has broken out within the Bihar BJP over allegations against former Chief Minister and Janata Dal (United) leader Nitish Kumar in a multi-crore scam related to the purchase of medical equipment.
A state audit report has allegedly found financial irregularities of Rs 1.85 crore in the purchase of medical equipment worth Rs 23.09 crore by the Bihar Medical Services and Infrastructure Corporation. It has also reportedly detected irregularities of Rs 80.24 lakh in the installation of equipment, made in 2013.
In another probe conducted by the state government, senior officials have allegedly been indicted for purchasing medicines at inflated prices between January and July this year.
The BJP, primarily senior leader and former Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi, has alleged that the needle of suspicion points towards Mr Kumar and his Officer on Special Duty, who was the Health Secretary and Chairman of the Purchase Committee.
Mr Kumar had been in charge of the Health Ministry after the alliance between the ruling JD(U) and the BJP ended in 2013.
Mr Modi has demanded an inquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation into all irregularities related to the medical scam. But a senior leader from his own party has questioned the veracity of the allegations.
Former party vice president C P Thakur told reporters, "I have known Nitish Kumar for decades. He is an upright person known for his honesty and integrity in public life".
In a letter to Mr Modi and the state's chief secretary, Mr Kumar, meanwhile, had hinted that the decision to purchase the equipment was taken during the tenure of Ashwini Choubey of the BJP, who held the health portfolio when the BJP- JD(U) alliance ruled the state.
"I wish to know from you the exact dates and time when the Bihar Medical Services and Infrastructure Corporation Limited sought the order from the minister concerned in connection with the bids and tenders related to the purchase of medicines," said Mr Kumar.
"You (Modi) are also requested to clarify when the tenders to buy the medicine and equipment were floated. When were the purchase committee and technical committees constituted and what role (did the) the health minister have in their decisions?"
The emergence of two different voices within the Bihar BJP is also a reflection of how the state unit seems to have been divided into pro and anti-Sushil Modi camps.
Sources say after the recent assembly by-elections, where the BJP won only four out of 10 seats, there has been growing discontent against Mr Modi, seen by many as the face of the party in Bihar and a probable Chief Ministerial candidate when the state goes to polls next year.
The Bihar government has promised to conduct an enquiry into the scam, claiming that the guilty will not be spared.