Bihar MLA sworn in and sacked

Bihar: The Lalu Prasad regime may be passe, but the outrageous ways of Bihar's ruling class never seem to end.

After a remarkable victory over RJD, the Nitish Kumar-led NDA had barely finished the victory celebrations when calamity struck.

Just hours after being sworn in on Thursday, Bihar Cabinet Minister and JD(U) MLA Jitan Ram Manjhi had to quit.

The reason: his alleged involvement in a scam involving grant of irregular recognition to teachers' training institutes and non-existent colleges in the '90s when he was education minister in the RJD government.

Manjhi is charged with masterminding the scam, in which 40,000 fake degrees were issued to students, along with RJD leader Jayprakash Yadav and several vice-chancellors and bureaucrats in Bihar.

In the early '90s they set up fake BEd colleges in the state. Most existed only on paper and those that existed lacked even the most basic infrastructure.

Officials of the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE), a body that recognises universities in Bihar, were bribed to authorise these colleges.

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The degrees, reportedly sold for Rs 2.5 lakh each, were recognised by the Magadh University in Gaya and the L N Mishra Mithilia University in Darbangha.

In 1999, an FIR was registered by the State Vigilance Department and Manjhi went into hiding. An arrest warrant was issued against Jaiprakash Yadav, who resigned from the then Rabri Devi government. Later, Manjhi surrendered in court and granted bail.

The issue had all but died. But on Wednesday, his dubious past revisited Manjhi.

During Nitish's maiden speech as Chief Minister a journalist pointed out the case against Manjhi.

Nitish Kumar promised to look into the case, but before a probe could be ordered, Manjhi himself quit the Cabinet.

"I don't want people to question the image of Nitish Kumar's Cabinet," Manjhi reasoned.

"I want the Chief Minister to run the government without any worries in Bihar, so I have quit," he added.

Manjhi's resignation is now being forwarded to Bihar Governor Buta Singh for acceptance.

(With inputs from PTI)