Coronavirus lockdown: CM Nitish Kumar under fire as BJP MLA drives from Bihar to Kota, returns with kin

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is under fire over his doublespeak on lockdown to contain COVID-19.

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At a time when he was advocating that no one from other states should be allowed to enter Bihar as “this would defeat the purpose of lockdown”, one of the ruling party MLAs drove from Bihar to Kota (in Rajasthan) and returned with his son in less than three days.

Also read — Take action against Kota DM for sending students to Bihar: Nitish to Centre

Here's a letter written by Bihar Chief Secretary Deepak Kumar to Union Home Secretary last week protesting Kota DM's action to issue passes for travelling from Kota to Bihar:

The inter-State pass was issued to BJP MLA from Hisua, Anil Singh, by the Nawada district administration. The special pass, issued by the Nawada SDO, specifically said that the BJP MLA had been allowed permission to drive in his vehicle BR-01PJ-0484 up to Kota (and return). “The pass will be valid from April 16 to April 25,” said the permission order.

The Inter-State pass issued to Bihar BJP MLA Anil Singh to drive up to Kota and return before April 25. The MLA, however, returned from Kota to Bihar on April 18 itself along with his son.

The move comes three days after Bihar’s top bureaucrat – State Chief Secretary Deepak Kumar - wrote a letter to Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla questioning how the Kota DM issued passes to private vehicles to drive from Kota to Bihar. The Bihar Chief Secretary also sought action against the Kota DM for violating lockdown rules by issuing passes to private vehicles.

Deccan Herald had last week carried a report ‘Take action against Kota DM for sending students to Bihar: Nitish to Centre’.

Miffed over double standards adopted by Nitish over return of students from Kota as well as migrant workers, Leader of the Opposition Tejashwi Yadav said, “Why such discrimination between two classes of people? Effort should be made to bring back all those stuck outside Bihar.”

Track state-wise confirmed coronavirus cases here

Nitish’s former aide and poll strategist Prashant Kishor too took a jibe at Bihar CM. “People are stranded across the country, while Nitish is giving a lecture on morality. And at the same time, his government gives permission to a BJP MLA to drive from Bihar to Kota to bring back his son,” lamented Kishor.