PoliticsBihar
Anant Singh's 'nine people murdered' remark and quick retraction pull Nitish Kumar into a row
The Mokama MLA, at odds with his party over a council seat, says he meant nine of his associates were killed after he sided with Nitish. The RJD calls it a confession.
Key points
- JD(U) MLA Anant Singh appeared to say he had got nine people murdered while backing Nitish Kumar.
- He later said nine of his associates were killed, and that the statement has already been refuted.
- Polls for eight Bihar Legislative Council seats are due on 23 October.
Bihar’s Mokama MLA Anant Singh set off a political row on Friday when he appeared to say he had got “nine people murdered” while supporting Nitish Kumar, then rushed to clarify that he had meant something else entirely.
Singh, a Janata Dal (United) legislator, said what he meant was that nine of his associates were killed after he sided politically with Kumar, and rejected any reading that he had ordered killings. “The statement has already been refuted,” he told reporters.
The opposition was not satisfied. RJD leader Shakti Singh Yadav said Singh had “effectively confessed to nine murders” and called for the circumstances to be examined. He asked whether Singh had changed his story under pressure from the party leadership, and accused Kumar of relying on politicians with criminal backgrounds.
The JD(U) played it down. Working president Sanjay Kumar Jha said the state unit was aware of the matter and described it as a statement followed by a clarification. He added that the party’s candidates in Patna would win comfortably. Senior leader Rajeev Ranjan Prasad said Kumar had opposed the nexus between crime and politics for five decades, and that the party did not need to answer every charge made by individual politicians.
The episode comes as Singh is openly at odds with his own party over the Patna Graduates’ seat in the Legislative Council. He is backing Jan Suraaj candidate Anuj Singh against the JD(U)‘s nominee, Neeraj Kumar.
Polling for eight Bihar council seats is due on 23 October, with counting on 27 October. The terms of the sitting members end on 16 November.