Transport Minister Resigns amidst Corruption Charges
Patna: May 17, 2008
Transport Minister Ramanand Prasad Singh, after a week of ducking allegations in the media for his involvement in a corruption case going back nearly 18 years during his tenure as the Fuel Technologist at the Kanti Thermal Power Station in Muzaffarpur, turned in his resignation to the Chief Minister while continuing to maintain his innocence.
On Saturday, Singh handed over his resignation to Nitish Kumar who sent it to the Governor's office for his acceptance.
Singh who became the Transport Minister following the April 13 reshuffle of the Bihar Cabinet replacing Ajit Kumar was charged by the state Vigilance department in 1990 for purchasing sub-standard pipes while bilking the government of several thousand rupees.
The tainted minister will continue to remain in charge of the Transport Minister until his replacement is announced, the Chief Minister said.
After his meeting with Nitish Kumar, Singh said that while he was completely innocent in the case fabricated by his known political opponents, he was not sore about the latest development that led to his resignation after being in the ministry for barely a month.
"Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has displayed in the past that he would not like to have anyone in his cabinet with a smeared background. He showed that by asking for resignation from Jitanram Manjhi within 24 hours of his swearing-in and I truly appreciate him for trying to maintain transparency in the government," Singh said adding he would continue to fight the allegations until his name is cleared in the case.
Without hiding his contempt for some of his political colleagues, Singh accused the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leaders Jagadanand, Shakuni Chowdhary, Samrat Chowdhary, Nalini Ranjan Singh, and JD-U leader and his predecessor Ajit Singh for hatching a widespread conspiracy against him to malign him and the NDA government in Bihar.
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