Oppn steps up offensive against Nitish govt

PATNA: All the major and minor opposition parties in terms of their representation in the state assembly have suddenly found their "ground zero" to launch an offensive against the Nitish Kumar-led NDA government that was returned to power only eight months ago in November 2010. The plank provided is the alleged land scam involving the allotment of the Bihar Industrial Area Development Authority (BIADA) land.
While the NDA, having won 80 per cent of the 40 parliamentary seats in 2009 and around 85 per cent of the 243 assembly seats, sits pretty like a huge mountain to scratch, dismantle or climb on, major opposition parties in the state assembly are the RJD with 25 seats, Congress and LJP with four and three seats, respectively, and CPI with the lone seat in the House.
However, both the RJD and the Congress have hit the roads, demanding a CBI inquiry into the alleged land scam. On the other hand, LJP chief and Rajya Sabha member Ram Vilas Paswan, leading a delegation of his party, chose to call on President Pratibha Devisingh Patil in Delhi to apprise her of the `real' Bihar situation under CM Nitish, demanding a CBI inquiry into the matter.
As if it was not enough, the RJD rank and file in Patna took out a protest march along the busy thoroughfares on Saturday. They also submitted a memorandum to governor Devanand Konwar, who is perceived to be as having not-so-cosy relation with the Nitish government. Incidentally, a Congress delegation led by party state chief Mehboob Ali Qaiser also submitted a memorandum to the governor on the day.
Nitish, for his part, has directed chief secretary Anup Mukherjee to conduct probe into the allotment of land. While leader of Opposition in the state assembly Abdul Bari Siddiqui demanded CM's reply on the alleged land scam, water resources department (WRD) minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary clarified that the CM would give his statement only after Mukherjee completed the probe, which could take time, as BIADA land has been allotted to a large number of people.
In the meantime, the Left parties -- CPI, CPM(ML) and CPM -- whose combined presence in the state assembly was brought to just one, appear to be more than happy to have found `ground zero' to move forward.
CPI state secretary Badri Narayan Lal rubbished the claim of the CM that the chief secretary would probe if rules and regulations had been violated.He said that the party would definitely launch its agitation programme after the party's two-day state Kisan Sabha meet being held at Naugachhia in Bhagalpur district concludes on Sunday. He demanded a CBI or high-level judicial inquiry into the scam.
Similarly, state ML secretary Nand Kishore Prasad, also sounding critical of the government, said that his party would decide the next course of action at the three-day meet of the state executive that begins at Begusarai on Monday. Sources, however, said that party general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya would launch the statewide Jail Bharo Abhiyan (fill the jail campaign) on BIADA land and other matters here on August 9.