The race among poll-bound Bihar’s political parties to woo the upper castes in the state has helped a notorious MLA from the ruling JD(U) currently serving a life term for murder to remain the chairman of the Assembly’s Housing Committee for over a year.
Despite its claims of ridding Bihar of the criminal atmosphere prevalent during the RJD regime, the Nitish Kumar government looks unwilling to remove the MLA, Munna Shukla, an upper-caste Bhumihar, from the prestigious Assembly post that has the status of a minister. Mr Kumar’s JD(U)-BJP government, currently busy wooing Bihar’s upper castes, reportedly does not want to annoy the influential social sections by divesting the criminal-turned-politician of the post.
Munna Shukla, whose real name is Vijay Kumar Shukla, is the JD(U) MLA from Lalganj in Vaishali district.
The JD(U) leader is currently lodged in Hajpur jail serving life imprisonment awarded for killing former minister Brij Bihari Prasad in June 1998.
He was also sentenced to life imprisonment in 2007 for the murder of dalit IAS officer G. Krishnaiya in 1994, but was later acquitted by the Patna high court.
Shukla has over a dozen criminal cases, including murder, extortion and abduction, running trial in various courts.
Shukla’s continuance as the chairman of the Bihar Vidhan Sabha Aawas Samiti despite his serving a life term first came to light after a newly-launched Patna-based news website, biharkhojkhabar.com, ran a story.