Manjhi gets into age declaration row

Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, who has been in news for his controversial remarks, has landed into another controversy over “inconsistent declaration” of his assets and age in three disclosures made in the past one year.

Manjhi declared his assets in December 2013 and December 2014 as part of annual exercise. He also declared his assets through an affidavit before the Election Commission before unsuccessfully contesting the 2014 Lok Sabha polls from Gaya. The Chief Minister, however, said Sunday only his affidavit details before the Lok Sabha elections were correct and other two declarations (which have no legal validity) have “discrepancies”. Manjhi had to face further embarrassment as his party spokesperson Neeraj Kumar said: “It does not behove a person holding high position of responsibility giving misleading information. It is not good for legislative piety.”

The matter came to light after BJP legislature party leader and former deputy chief minister S K Modi found discrepancies in his three property disclosures in matter of a year.

“While Manjhi declared in December 2013 that he owned five acres of agricultural land at Mahkar village, his 2014 disclosure in December did not mention it. His age also came down from 69 in 2013 to 68 in 2014.” There were other discrepancies over the size of his Mahkar house — 4000 sq ft in 2013 and 2500 sq ft in the latest declaration.