Patna,(BiharTimes): Former deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi cut a sorry figure when the mediapersons on Saturday burst into laughter after he answered a question on para-teachers.

When he was reminded of his famous statement made as finance minister that “even God could not regularise the pay-scales of contract teachers” SuMo replied: “I had stated so on the instruction of Nitish Kumar. They were not my words.”

Modi’s excuse evoked laughter as the senior BJP leader was found at a loss of words.

Ironically, while talking to the mediapersons he did not give credit to Nitish Kumar for the recent decision of the Bihar cabinet on pay-scale to contractual teachers. Instead he gave credit to the former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi and his own party, the BJP, for it as, according to him, they were the one who took the initiative to regularise the pay-scale.

He also promised that if the BJP-led government is formed in the state, it would hike the revised salaries of contract teachers of primary, secondary and higher secondary schools by 20 per cent and also increase the retirement age of schoolteachers in general to 62 years.

SuMo said that on the occasion of Teachers’ Day in 2011, Nitish had announced framing a pension scheme for the contract teachers but it is yet to be implemented. Though Rs 200 is being deducted from their salaries, yet the state government is not paying its share of equal amount in the pool.

He also said around 70,000 aspirants had cleared the teachers’ eligibility test (TET), but they had not been recruited, notwithstanding education minister P K Shahi’s assurances.