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Journalism of Courage
From a primary school teacher to a contractor, to an RJD MLC — to the Bihar law minister for 15 days. This is a tale of rise and rise of Kartik Kumar a.k.a. Kartikeya Singh that also has a twist: A kidnapping case dogging him since 2014 that finally led to his resignation as minister in the Nitish Kumar-led Mahagathbandhan (Grand Alliance) government on Wednesday — the first among its “tainted” ministers to do so — after the JD(U) and the RJD top brass deliberated on his case threadbare and decided against his continuance in the government.
Kartik, 53, who faced a warrant in the 2014 kidnapping case against him, was prevented from getting arrested till Thursday following an order of the Danapur District and Sessions Court. Yet, the pending arrest warrant against him along with the uncertainty over his anticipatory bail is believed to be a key reason behind his resignation late on Wednesday evening, barely a few hours after his law portfolio was swapped with his RJD colleague and sugarcane industries minister Shamim Ahmad, which was considered to be Kartik’s “demotion”.
Kartik Kumar had to step down because of various other reasons too. Before him, four other ministers who had worked under CM and JD(U) supremo Nitish during his multiple terms at the head of various coalition governments since 2005, had to resign due to pending criminal cases or some other controversies surrounding them. While Jitan Ram Manjhi had to resign in 2005 a few days after taking oath as minister over an education scam probe, BJP minister Ramadhar Singh had to step down in 2011 due to a pending warrant against him.
The JD(U)’s minister Manju Verma resigned in 2018 soon after her husband was named in an Arms Act case and the party’s another minister Mewalal Choudhary quit his post a few days after taking charge of the education department in 2020 over a probe in corruption charges against him during his tenure as the vice-chancellor (V-C) of the Bihar Agricultural University, Sabour (Bhagalpur).
Kartik’s resignation was thus said to be in accordance with several precedents seen during the tenures of CM Nitish, who has often talked about not compromising with triple Cs (crime, corruption and communalism).
Another reason being cited for Kartik’s resignation is linked to Nitish’s need for ensuring the “right optics” before taking a plunge into national politics. During his meeting with the visiting Telangana CM and TRS supremo K Chandrashekar Rao in Patna on Wednesday, Nitish went on to appeal to the media to give them due attention rather than “giving publicity to one side only”.
“With Nitish Kumar now all set to travel outside Bihar in coming months, he wanted to avoid a bad Press back home,” said a JD(U) source. An RJD leader said, “We also want to avoid unnecessary criticism of the government. The Opposition BJP has already launched an onslaught on us because of inclusion of some ministers with controversial backgrounds. While the RJD has to take sundry factors including social balancing and the clout of leaders in their respective areas before selecting ministers, the party also wants to be talked about for its good governance initiatives.”
RJD president Lalu Prasad and Deputy CM Tejashwi Prasad Yadav reportedly discussed Kartik’s case thoroughly and advised him
to get his legal matter resolved before he could be considered for a ministerial position again. Nitish, who had to face embarrassment for not checking the backgrounds of the RJD ministers, reportedly nudged the RJD to take a call on Kartik. Besides, other Mahagathbandhan partners such as the Congress and CPI (ML) also urged the coalition leadership for considering the removal of Kartik from the ministry.
Kartik’s induction into the Bihar Cabinet was attributed to a couple of reasons. The RJD was looking for an upper caste Bhumihar face and also seeking to keep the party’s Mokama strongman Anant Singh, who had just lost his membership in the Assembly because of his conviction in an Arms Act case, in good humour. Kartik is known to have been a close aide of Anant Singh for years. Kartik’s rise and the jump in his fortune over the last two decades has also been linked to his association with Anant Singh and his elder brother and ex-minister Dilip Singh. Kartik’s 2022 MLC poll affidavit shows that he and his wife Ranjana Kumari have moveable and immoveable assets worth over Rs 22 crore.
Kartik started off as a primary school teacher in Ladma, the paternal village of Singh brothers. He reportedly first came in contact with Dilip and started getting petty contracts. Later, he not only became a big contractor for works under the MLA local area fund but also started looking after Anant’s business. His wife Ranjana is the second-term mukhiya from Mokama’s Shivnar Panchayat.
RJD sources said Kartik was made a party MLC and subsequently a minister due to his proximity with Anant, who reportedly wanted more power by proxy. Kartik, also known as “Masterji”, was considered to be “his master’s voice”.
Meanwhile, the court of additional sessions judge III, Danapur, on Thursday rejected Kartik’s anticipatory bail plea, mainly on the count of the Patna High Court earlier rejecting his similar plea in the Bihta police case (859/2014). In this case pertaining to the kidnapping of one Rajiv Ranjan alias Raju Singh, a Mokama resident, the police named Kartik in its supplementary FIR. Once close to Anant Singh, Ranjan was abducted after he had fallen out with the Mokama strongman over some business transaction. He was later recovered by the police.
