Ahead of the first phase of polling in Bihar on Monday, a Cabinet Minister in the Nitish Kumar government resigned on Sunday night after he was allegedly shown taking bribe in a sting operation on a video which went viral on social media.
After the sting operation, captioned “X-files,” went viral, Minister for Registration, Excise and Prohibition and Urban Development Awadhesh Kumar Kushwaha was asked to resign by Mr. Nitish Kumar himself.
The Minister later faxed his resignation to the Chief Minister which was forwarded to the Governor. Mr. Kushwaha was also a JD(U) candidate from the Pipra Assembly constituency in East Champaran.
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“The party has terminated Mr. Kushwaha’s membership and his candidature from the constituency … the next candidate will be announced soon,” said JD(U) president Sharad Yadav.
According to his annual asset declaration for the year 2015, Mr. Kushwaha was one of the 11 crorepati Ministers in the Nitish Cabinet — having declared assets as Rs. 3.5 crore.
In the video, the Minister was shown taking Rs. 4 lakh from someone for his work to be done after the formation of the next government. The Minister in the video was also shown talking with the Industry Minister and giving “assurance” to the person for his work to be done.
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In the video, Rashtriya Janata Dal candidate from Jehanabad, Mundrika Singh Yadav, too has been shown giving “assurance” to the person doing the sting operation for his work to be done.At Mr. Yadav’s residence, two other party leaders, RJD candidate from Makhdumpur in Jehanabad district, Subedar Das, and brother of a party leader from the Kosi area, too were shown taking bribe. Altogether, four persons are shown in camera taking bribe or promising the person in video for his work to be done after government formation for his “favour to them in the Assembly poll.”
The video which went viral on social media has caused major embarrassment to grand alliance leaders Mr. Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad.