Shaken, the BJP and JD(U) began hectic parleys on Friday after the Patna high court ordered a CBI probe into the alleged irregular withdrawal of Rs 11,412.54 crores from the state treasury between 2002-03 and 2007-08 for different welfare and development schemes without making available required bills to the accountant-general of Bihar.
Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, deputy chief minister Sushil Modi (BJP), health minister Nand Kishore Yadav (BJP) and 43 others have been named as accused in the case of “fraudulent withdrawal”.
The period of withdrawals includes 42 months of the Rabri Devi-led RJD-Congress government and 28 months of the Nitish Kumar-led NDA government. The high court order, which comes soon after the state Assembly elections, is a blow to the Nitish-led government.
The court directed the CBI director to be present before the court on July 26 when it would monitor the progress of the case. The legal brains of the saffron camp, led by Mr Arun Jaitley, are now working on the issue.
When asked, the BJP and JD(U) spokesmen said they could not comment on the issue as they had not yet read the order. However, with elections nearing and Mr Kumar and his team desperately trying to hold up the image of a clean government, the high court order has put them on the backfoot.
The state Opposition has already started demanding the CM’s resignation. A senior BJP functionary said “the order coming at this juncture is not good for the image of the coalition government”.
In its observations, the high court said “there is no material on record to show the names and other particulars of the beneficiaries of the schemes in question”. What could be more damaging to the state government was the court’s observation that a “local investigating agency would not be able to handle an investigation into irregularities of such enormous magnitude for various reasons, including local affiliations and pressures.”