Patna,(BiharTimes): Former chief minister and Janata Dal (United) leader Nitish Kumar on Thursday wrote a letter to former deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi and sought certain details on medicine and equipment purchase scam.
Breaking his silence on his alleged involvement in the scam Nitish asked his former deputy to prove his contentions about the alleged scandal. He demanded the exact dates and time when the Bihar Medical Services and Infrastructure Corporation Limited (BMSICL) sought the order from the minister concerned in connection with the bids and tenders related to the purchase of medicine.
He has been under relentless attack from the leader of opposition in the Bihar Legislative Council as well as leader of opposition in the Assembly, Nand Kishore Yadav. Their plea is that the health portfolio was held by Nitish when the purchases were made.
In this regard he also wrote the letter to chief secretary Anjani Kumar Singh.
The letter, which is in Hindi asked: “You are also requested to
clarify when the tenders to buy the medicine and equipment were floated. When the purchase committee and technical committees were constituted and what role the health minister had in their decisions?”
Nitish has tried to turn the heat on a former health minister belonging to the BJP through the letter. Ashwini Kumar Choubey of BJP was his predecessor as the health minister. Nand Kishore Yadav and Chandra Mohan Rai were predecessor of Choubey.
The purchase committee and the technical committee were formed and the tenders to buy medicine and equipments were floated when one of these BJP leaders were the health miniser.
Nitish has also raised question on the linking of an IAS officer, Sanjay Kumar, with his name.
The letter said “As far as I remember, Sanjay joined me as my private secretary for a brief period during my initial days in office (as the chief minister). He had returned to his parent cadre on health grounds.”
The letter further said “since you are speaking on the issue every day, would you please tell me when Sanjay was brought back to work in the state? Was Sanjay the lone IAS officer working in Bihar?”
Adopting an aggressive posture against SuMo the former CM asked: “Since you were the part of the government, it would be relevant on your part to clarify when Sanjay was appointed as the joint secretary in the health department and what works were assigned to him and by whom. You please also clarify how Sanjay’s work as the joint secretary of health could be linked to his service as the private secretary to the chief minister.”
The letter posted on his Facebook, also promised that he would speak further on the issue after “gaining in knowledge” through clarifications of Modi.