Day after quitting as agri minister, RJD MLA remains defiant

A day after he resigned as Bihar’s agriculture minister, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Sudhakar Singh kept up his attack on the state government and vowed to fight for farmers.

Singh, MLA from Ramgarh in Kaimur district and son of state RJD president Jagadanand Singh, addressed a gathering of farmers on Monday at Adhaura, a hilly region in Kaimur district affected by Maoism.

Singh said he would not step back from raising his voice of farmers and poor people who were not getting the benefits of development and welfare schemes due to corrupt officials.

“Some people feel bad when I raise the issue of farmers and corruption. The restlessness of those in power increases. Officers and their staff have become masters and are treating people like subjects. I have resigned but our government is ruling. I will raise the issue from roads to assembly, if needed,” Sudhakar Singh said.

He assured tribals at the gathering that he would fight for their right of Jal, Jangal and Jameen (water, forests and land). “The tribals would get their traditional rights on forest products and I am planning to opening everyday markets at several places on the plateau,” the former minister said.

Singh, a first-time MLA, was inducted into Nitish Kumar’s cabinet in August when the chief minister’s party Janata Dal-United snapped ties with BJP and formed a new government in alliance with RJD, Congress and other parties.

However, he resigned on Sunday, in less than two months of his induction, during which he complained of rampant corruption in his department and took on CM Kumar, saying his three successive agriculture road maps for the state had done nothing to improve the situation.