Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar was shocked and peeved on Friday after he came to know that one of his Cabinet colleague and president of the Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) Mukesh Sahni allowed his brother to officiate as a minister at a government function.
“This is shocking and completely unacceptable. I have just come to know about this incident. I will summon the Animal Husbandry Minister (Mukesh Sahni) and find out how this happened,” said Nitish after the Opposition, led by the RJD, raised the issue in the State Assembly.
Mukesh Sahni’s brother Suresh Sahni, on Thursday, reached Hajipur in the minister’s official vehicle, flanked by the escort party, to inaugurate a government scheme where fishermen were doled out largesse.
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Sahni himself was conspicuous by his absence. However, his brother Suresh was accorded all the protocols reserved for a Cabinet minister.
“This is a serious issue. I will get the matter investigated,” said Nitish, taking umbrage at the debutant minister Mukesh Sahni, who, at the last moment, dumped Grand Alliance and joined the NDA during the November 2020 Bihar Assembly polls.
Sahni’s outfit VIP managed to win four Assembly seats, and, thereby, helped him become a minister for the first time.
Incidentally, Sahni himself lost the Assembly election but was ‘rehabilitated’ later as MLC, as any minister must be a member of either House within six months of swearing-in.