Munda sacks minister over corruption charges

Chief Minister Arjun Munda’s Cabinet will be reduced to almost half its strength by July 7, as 13 of the 26 ministers are to be dropped. Munda will carry out the downsizing along with senior coalition leaders — the BJP’s two general secretaries, Sanjay Joshi and Rajnath Singh, (state-in-charge) and JD(U) president George Fernandes, who arrived here on Monday. The NDA coalition comprises an Independent legislator and three parties — the BJP, the JD(U) and the AJSU.

Meanwhile, Munda sacked Revenue Minister Madhu Singh today, for accepting Rs 50 lakh in illegal gratification, in exchange for voting for an industrialist in the Rajya Sabha elections.

Singh, the chief whip of the Janata Dal in the Assembly, has also been suspended from the party. Munda said that a probe will be conducted, after Assembly Speaker Inder Singh Namdhari is consulted.

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Fernandes and JD(U) leader Gautam Sagar Rana backed the CM on the issue. ‘‘Tainted persons have no place in the party,’’ Fernandes told his partymen.

A local Hindi daily had recently claimed to possess a CD showing that Singh allegedly took Rs 50 lakh from an industrialist. However, the industrialist concerned did not file his nomination for the RS poll.