Patna:Â Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi sparked off a row when he said traders indulging in small scale black marketing will be pardoned as they are only doing this to help their families.
“There are people who indulge in black marketing worth crores. They are still roaming free. If you are indulging in black marketing for Rs 1000 or Rs 4000 for your family, you are doing no wrong. Being the Chief Minister of Bihar, I will pardon such small mistakes,” Manjhi said.
This statement comes just days after he was heard saying that his mentor former Chief Minister Nitish Kumar failed to bring down corruption when the latter was in power. Manjhi said his family members had to pay a bribe of Rs 5,000 to electricity department officials to get his power bill modified a couple of years ago.
He moved on to say how corruption prevailed in the official machinery from top to bottom. Manjhi agreed to the immense development that was brought about in Nitish Kumar’s rule. But he said that the corruption is so deep rooted that even Kumar could not bring it down.
Manjhi had expressed his displeasure at having to pay a bribe in spite being a minister. “Bihar today faces the biggest challenge of erasing corruption,” he said.
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