Bihar: Agriculture Minister Sudhakar Singh resigns over 'injustice' to farmers, Sarvjeet to hold charge

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has accepted the resignation of Agriculture Minister Sudhakar Singh, officials said on Sunday. According to the officials of the Chief Minister's Office, after Sudhakar Singh, Agriculture Ministry was given to Tourism Minister Kumar Sarvjeet. At the same time, Deputy Chief Minister Tejaswi Yadav would hold the additional charge of the Tourism Ministry.

Earlier on Sunday, Bihar agriculture minister Sudhakar Singh submitted his resignation to the government. Bihar Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) president and Sudhakar's father, Jagdanand Singh confirmed, adding that Sudhakar resigned over 'injustice' to the farmers of the state.

"India is no different from the farmers. Gandhi and Shastri understood this and everyone should understand this. Fortunately, the agriculture minister (Sudhakar Singh) not only understood this but sacrificed for them," Jagdanand said.Singh further claimed that killing the Mandi law (Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee Act) has destroyed the farmers of the state.

"Someone needs to stand up for the farmers and the injustice being done to them. The Agricultural Minister took this up," he added.

Taking a dig at Sudhakar Singh's resignation, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and former deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi said that the second wicket of the 'Mahagathbandhan' has fallen within two months.

The allusion was to Singh's resignation which came about a month after another RJD minister Kartik Kumar resigned from the cabinet. Bihar Minister Kartikeya Singh, who was moved from the Ministry of Law has an outstanding arrest warrant against him in a kidnapping case for which he was granted interim protection till September 1 by a Danapur court.

Sushil Modi said that Jagdanand and his son Sudhakar Singh openly called Nitish Kumar's agriculture roadmap a failure. "They spoke of corruption in the agriculture department and exposed its "zero tolerance on corruption" and also opposed the decision to abolish the Mandi Act," Modi added.

Modi further said, "Jagdanand, a confidant of RJD's First Family, ran the government behind the scenes after Lalu Prasad went to jail in the fodder scam and Rabri Devi became the Chief Minister. Now it remains to be seen who will have to bow down in the confrontation between Jagdanand and Nitish Kumar.

"Stirring a controversy, last month, Sudhakar told a gathering in his constituency that his department was infested with "thieves" and he felt like a "chief of theft". He later said to the media that he stood by what he had said."

There is not a single wing of our (agriculture) department that does not commit acts of theft. As I am the in-charge of the department, I become their Sardar.

There are many other chieftains above me too. The government has changed but the working style remained the same. Everything is the same as before," he had said. Without naming, Singh further attacked Janata Dal (United) MLA from Chainpur and the Minority Affairs Minister Mohammad Jama Khan saying that the latter had been a Minister in the government even before but the condition of the people in the region hardly changed.