PATNA: Bihar Police’s Economic Offense Wing (EOW) on Monday, October 7 made shocking revelations pertaining to an alleged conspiracy to topple the Nitish Kumar led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government, during floor test in February this year.
According to the EOU officials, a conspiracy was hatched to buy a few MLA’s of the Nitish Kumar led Janata Dal (United) to prevent the NDA alliance from winning the trust vote on February 12 this year. The investigation of the case has so far revealed that a few of the MLA’s also received advance payment for switching sides during the trust vote exercise.
The conspiracy was reportedly hatched by a few individuals of Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Nepal and the capital state of Delhi, who had tried toppling the government by buying a few of the MLAs. The said MLAs would have received the remaining amount through hawala transactions across other states, had the government was toppled.
A complaint about the alleged horse-trading was initially filed by JD(U) MLA from Madhubani, Sudhansu Shekhar at Kotwali police station in state’s capital Patna, who had alleged one of his party colleague for offering him Rs 10 crore bribe along a ministerial birth for switching allegiance in favour of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) led Grand Alliance ahead of the trust voting.
Shekhar had further alleged about kidnapping of two of the party’s MLA namely Bima Bharti and Dilip Rai. Later on the day of trust voting, a few of the MLA’s of JD(U) arrived late in the assembly and could not participate in the trust vote. This prompted the newly formed NDA government to order a thorough inquiry into the case which was later taken over by the EOU.
The development has been confirmed by the senior officials of the agency, who have reportedly unearthed traces of money laundering in the case. The EOU officials have also submitted its findings to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) which is likely to join the investigation pertaining to money laundering.
Notably, the incumbent Chief Minister, Nitish Kumar walked out of the Grand Alliance, making a return to the BJP led NDA alliance with whom he shared a long association in January this year. Kumar along with his two deputies took oath as ministers in the newly formed NDA government on January 28. The alliance succeeded in winning the trust vote by securing 129 MLAs in its favour in the 245 seated state assembly on February 12.
