Rabri’s I-Day gift to Taslimuddin

One of the so-called “tainted ministers” got a convenient reprieve from his backers in Bihar today, but the issue may come back to...

One of the so-called “tainted ministers” got a convenient reprieve from his backers in Bihar today, but the issue may come back to haunt Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Mohammed Taslimuddin, Minister of State for Agriculture and Food and Civil Supplies, had come under renewed attack from the BJP yesterday, which claimed that he had been dodging a non-bailable arrest warrant. Barely had the controversy erupted when the Bihar government decided that it was withdrawing the criminal case against him.

What makes the move particularly blatant is that the decision to drop the case was taken by Taslimuddin’s own party, RJD. It was announced by Bihar Law Minister Shakeel Ahmed Khan soon after he emerged from a meeting with CM Rabri Devi.

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Khan claimed that his government was within its rights to review and drop such cases. The timing, however, is significant.

Yesterday, BJP’s national vice-president Sushil Kumar Modi had told the media that after criminal cases were filed against Taslimuddin under the Arms Act and the Explosive Substance Act, he had brazenly refused to attend court on 28 separate occasions.

The Araria court, in March 2000, had ordered that his property be attached. An arrest warrant was issued against him but Modi said the Bihar police had failed to execute it.

The Taslimuddin affair will give the Opposition more fodder.

Meanwhile, Taslimuddin yesterday moved the Delhi High Court, seeking transit bail to enable him to approach the trial court in Araria for relief. The matter is to be heard on August 17.

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