Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tarkishore Prasad dismissing speculations that contracts worth Rs 5 crore were given to his family members and aides said, a conspiracy has been hatched to defame him and Nitish Kumar government.
“They say that my brother-in-law and his wife are associated with an organisation involved in the scheme. They also accused my son-in-law. No one from my family or in-laws is associated with it,” he added.
Reacting over the matter, Rashtriya Janta Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav said, Tarkishore Prasad's daughter-in-law and brother-in-law are Directors of some companies. PHED guidelines say that if tender is being awarded,company must be experienced in government work. "Their company has no such experience," he added.
"Our leaders had held a press confernece over this in August 2020 and wrote a letter to the chief minister in February 2021," Tejashwi revealed.
Saying the CM should awaken his conscience, but his conscience is dead, RJD, RJD added that the company has no signboard at their registered address. "He had said that he won't compromise with corruption, there would be zero tolerance but there is 100% acceptance of corruption here," he said.
On Wednesday, Tejashwi had also claimed that the deputy chief minister’s kins had received contracts worth crores of rupees for ‘Har Ghar Nal Ka Jal’ projects to bring tap water to every household in Bihar.
Earlier, Bihar BJP President Sanjay Jaiswal defended Prasad saying that a tender of Rs 1.77 lakh was given to the Deputy CM’s son in February 2019 and the work for which the tender was taken was completed before the recent assembly polls.
As per the reports, contracts worth Rs 53 crore were awarded to the beneficiaries known to be close to Prasad in the Katihar district.
Last month, JD(U) MLA Gopal Mandal had alleged that Tarkishore Prasad frequently visits Bhagalpur to “collect extortion money” from shop owners and demanded a probe into the matter.