Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday dismissed the Opposition’s charge of a “scam” in teacher recruitment in the State. He said “they [Opposition BJP leaders in the State] have been picking holes in the appointment of teachers on the instructions from above [in their party]”.
On November 2, Mr. Kumar is scheduled to distribute appointment letters to over 25,000 teachers at Patna’s Gandhi Maidan. He urged Ministers of his coalition government not to give credit for the government’s good work to their own parties.
“Tomorrow [November 2] is a big day. Those who are picking holes in the recruitment of teachers had never any problem as long as they were with us. Now, they are finding faults on the instructions from the above [in their party]”, Mr. Kumar told media persons in Patna. Earlier, the Opposition BJP alleged scam in the teacher recruitment as “money has changed hands in the selection process” and many contractual teachers were being shown as fresh recruits to inflate figures by the Mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) government. The Bihar government has announced recruitment of 1.20 lakh teachers.
Poll strategist-turned-political activist Prashant Kishor, who is touring the State under Jan Suraaj (people’s governance) campaign, too alleged that “only few thousands are fresh recruits and most of them have already been working as contractual teachers”. “After three-four days of their recruitment, I will release the list of teachers who are freshly recruited and also those already working as contractual teachers”, added Mr. Kishor.
‘Give credit to govt.’
Meanwhile, Mr. Kumar said, “I notice that many of my Ministers, in their bid to grab headlines, end up giving credit of the government’s good work to their own parties. This is not appropriate.” He said, “whenever I mention any good work done in Bihar I do not speak of it as my personal achievement. Similarly, all the Ministers must give credit to the government as a whole and not to their parties.” Mr. Kumar heads a coalition government of seven parties after snapping ties with the BJP-led NDA government in August 2022. Besides the JD(U) and the RJD, the Cabinet has two ministers from the alliance partner Congress. The three Left parties in the coalition government are not part of the Cabinet.
Earlier, addressing a function of State power projects, Mr. Kumar expressed unhappiness over the poor coverage of accomplishments of his government in the media, while the Centre got credit for many of his government’s accomplishments. However, the Chief Minister said he was not angry with the media but was upset over the gag on the press. “Once the current dispensation is sent packing [in the 2024 Lok Sabha poll] all of you will be able to practice your profession freely and independently,” said Mr. Kumar. “Until then, please try to spread the word about the good work done by our government. It may not be possible to do so formally but you can make use of social media”. Mr Kumar had played a pivotal role in the formation of non-BJP Opposition parties bloc INDIA (Indian National Developmental, Inclusive Alliance).
