Pandemonium over JD(U) MLA's threat to BJP leaders

Patna: Pandemonium prevailed in the legislative council during zero hour on Wednesday when NDA members demanded the arrest of Janata Dal (United) MLA from Gopalpur Narendra Kumar Neeraj alias Gopal Mandal for allegedly threatening to kill BJP leaders, including former deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi.

BJP member Lal Babu Prasad moved an adjournment motion demanding special debate on the deteriorating law and order situation and the JD(U) MLA's arrest for his utterances in public recently. Prasad said the killers of BJP state vice-president Visheshwar Ojha, LJP member Brijnathi Singh and BJP figure Kedar Singh had not been arrested so far. "The cases of Rs10 lakh loot from a Siwan bank on Tuesday and loot and murder in Muzaffarpur on February 29 have proved beyond doubt that people of Bihar are not safe. The administration has become a mute spectator," he alleged.

Council Chairman Awadhesh N Singh rejected the motion and asked him not to raise the issue during question hour. He again raised the issue during zero hour. Several NDA members, including Nawal Kishore Yadav, Sanjay Mayukh, Rajnish Kumar, Lal Babu Prasad, Krishna Kumar Singh, Harendra Pratap Pandey (all BJP) and Sanjiv Shyam Singh (RLSP), swooped into the well demanding the MLA's arrest. The chairman had to adjourn the House till lunch break.

Leader of the opposition in the Upper House, Sushil Kumar Modi, demanded Neeraj's arrest. "Nearly two months back, the same MLA had threatened the local SDPO to throw him into river Ganga," he said. He said the main accused of some of the recent killings and suspended Nawada RJD MLA Rajballabh Yadav, who is accused of raping a minor schoolgirl, were still at large, proving that they were getting protection from the respective local administration. "All such people's representatives have been getting protection from the CM," he alleged.