Patna: The Bihar Congress Sunday received a
boost ahead of the Assembly Elections with a former excise
minister in the Nitish Kumar government, Jamshed Ashraf joining
the party along with an ex-president of JD(S) and a former
head of the state unit of NCP.
Ashraf, Sharavan Kumar Choudhry and Aquil Haider joined
the party in the presence of central ministers Mukul Wasnik,
Salman Khurshid and state BPCC president Mehboob Ali Kaiser.
Attacking the Nitish Kumar government, Ashraf, who was
sacked from the state Cabinet and the party in June for raking
up the issue of Rs 500 crore scam in the state excise
department, said, "Kumar is vying with Lalu Prasad to break
the record of corruption in the state."
He told the gathering that surfacing of the Rs 11,412
crore scam pertaining to the fraudulent withdrawals from state
treasuries against MNREGA and other Central government schemes
only vindicated his stand of "widespread corruption" in the
state administration.
"I raked up the issue of multi-crore scam in the excise
department but was sacked for playing the role of a whistle
blower. I sought resignations of Nitish Kumar and his deputy
S K Modi on moral grounds, saying that the duo should own up
the responsibility for the financial irregularities.
Welcoming Ashraf, Haider and Choudhry to the party fold,
Wasnik said they had joined the Congress not to enjoy the
benefits of power but to make contributions to the party
to make Bihar a developed state.
PTI
