Day After His "Sardar Of Thieves" Remark, Bihar Minister Says This

Bihar Minister Sudhakar Singh, who called himself a "sardar of thieves" on Sunday, said today he stands by his comments and wouldn't change anything.

"I will not amend my statement. I stand by it. People have voted me, I will keep raising public issues," Sudhakar Singh, the Bihar agriculture minister, said defiantly.

Addressing a public meeting, Mr Singh said: "There is not a single wing of our (agriculture) department that does not commit acts of theft. As I am the in-charge of the department, I become their sardar. There are many other chieftains above me too. The government has changed, but the working style remained the same. Everything is the same as before."

Mr Singh is a leader of the Tejashwi Yadav-led Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), which was in the opposition until recently.

Nitish Kumar last month dumped the BJP and formed a new government with the RJD, Congress and other opposition parties. Tejashwi Yadav became his deputy.

RJD leaders said Mr Singh's criticism was directed mainly at the BJP, not Nitish Kumar. Most of his predecessors in the agriculture department were from the BJP.

In his remarks yesterday, Mr Singh alleged that the Bihar State Seed Corporation embezzled around Rs 200 crore in the name of giving relief to farmers.

"The farmers who had to cultivate good quality paddy, do not take paddy seeds of Bihar State Seed Corporation. Even if they take it for some reason, they do not put it in their fields. Instead of giving relief to the farmers, the seed corporations steal Rs 100-150 crore," he said.

Without naming anyone, Mr Singh attacked a leader of Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal United, Mohammad Jama Khan – he is Minority Affairs Minister in the state --  saying that he had been minister earlier too, but the condition of the people in the region was unchanged.

"Now there are two ministers from the district. Even after that, if the situation does not change, then what is the benefit of becoming a minister? Kaimur district is full of corrupt officials," Mr Singh said.

Mr Singh is the son of RJD state president Jagdanand Singh, a prominent leader in Bihar. He has faced allegations of a rice scam on his watch when he was a minister in Nitish Kumar's cabinet in 2013. After he recently became minister again, the BJP attacked the government.