Modi, Shah to blame for law and order situation in Bihar: Allavaru

The Congress on Saturday blamed Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah for the alleged deterioration in the law and order situation in Bihar, claiming that chief minister Nitish Kumar "does not control" the administration in the state.

Speaking to reporters in Patna, the Congress' Bihar in-charge Krishna Allavaru also threatened to launch a fresh agitation if the Election Commission of India (ECI) did not include Aadhaar and ration cards in its list of documents acceptable for the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the state's electoral rolls despite the Supreme Court's direction.

"Chief minister Nitish Kumar does not control the administration in the state. It is the writ of Narendra Modi and Amit Shah that runs here. Therefore, these two people should be held responsible for converting Bihar into the crime capital of India," Allavaru said when his remarks were sought on a recent spurt in serious offences reported from the state.

He also said, "After the SC made it clear that Aadhaar card and ration card should be included in the list of acceptable documents, we are keeping a close watch on the ongoing SIR exercise. If the EC does not take needful action in good time…we will hit the streets again."

Meanwhile, at a press conference in Patna, Congress social media chief Supriya Shrinate also taunted the state administration for showing "more interest in tracking down the missing dog of a ruling coalition MP than bringing to justice culprits of serious crime". The allusion was to the much talked about recovery of the pet of Khagaria MP Rajesh Verma, who is a close aide of Union minister Chirag Paswan.

Shrinate also claimed that the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) figures showed a steep rise in incidences of murder, attempt to murder and crimes against women during the 20-year period that Bihar has been under NDA rule and remarked, "We wonder whether the chief minister is mentally sound enough to realise the gravity of the situation."

She also demanded the resignation of BJP leader and state minister Jibesh Mishra over a Rajasthan court order which "has held him guilty of involvement in spurious medicine business". Notably, Mishra is one of the directors of the pharmaceutical company which has been indicted by the court in Rajsamand (Rajasthan). The court has not awarded a prison sentence to the Bihar minister but ruled that he be under probation for a certain period.

Shrinate said, "Although it is of no use to pose a question to the CM given his state of mind. Still, we would ask him to let us know why the minister is being retained in the Cabinet despite having been pronounced guilty by the court. We would also like to remind him that before the new era that began in 2014, people in positions of power used to step down as soon as an allegation was levelled against them."

Reacting to the recent rise in cases of serious crimes in the state, Bihar deputy chief minister Vijay Kumar Sinha told reporters on Saturday, "The increasing criminal incidents in Bihar involve the sand mafia, land mafia and liquor mafia. These mafias are linked to the RJD. RJD members want to spread anarchy in Bihar before the elections".