Giridih: Member of Legislative assembly (MLA) from Gandey Assembly segment, Jharkhand, Jai Prakash Verma, made a startling revelation about his party colleagues. He said, “The party leaders do not give me a chance to speak inside the state assembly after I had talked about how MLAs could play an important role in countering corruption.”
MLAs refuse to take self-correction advice on corruption
“Every member of the house was giving a speech on how to eradicate corruption in Jharkhand. When my chance came, I explained how everyone (81 legislators) could help. I mentioned that if we don’t take a commission and ensure that those working under us are not corrupt, then we could take corruption straight on. I was asked to sit midway,” narrated Jai Prakash Verma, an MLA of Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP).
“I had made this suggestion almost two years back. But since that fateful day, I did not get proper chance to speak inside the assembly,” he added.
Not a newbie in politics
The young leader from Gandey, who is not being heard inside Jharkhand’s Assembly, is not a rookie when it comes to politics. Jai Prakash Verma or JP is the nephew of late Ritlal Prasad Verma, a six-time MP and one time MLA from Koderma and Jamua constituencies, of Jharkhand, respectively.
His personal profile is impressive too. Forty five-year-old JP is a postgraduate (Geography and English) and an alumna of Sainik School, Tailaya. He is a graduate of Chandigarh’s DAV College, the same college that former Indian Cricket team captain, Kapil Dev went to.
I fight against corruption
This first time MLA’s Facebook also talks about helping the poor and fighting against corruption. And Verma claims that he actually practices what he preaches.
“I do not take commission and I have told all the block development officers (BDOs) and Circle Officers (COs) of my area that they should abstain from taking commission from my cadres for developmental works being carried out in my area,” he said.
During the interview, the MLA also accuses officials of delaying his work. “As our cadres do not give any commission, NREP (National Rural Employment Programme)’s Executive Engineer Ramashray Sharma* often creates a problem in our work,” he reveals.
He then adds, “This often delays the MLA funds from getting released for my area. If you will see expenditure record, you will find that Gandey’s MLA has used least amount of funds, which is because officials delay in my works.”
Lavish election campaign corrupts a party
Before signing off, he mentions, “I also believe that parties should not spend much on election rallies as such rallies often lay the foundation for corruption in future.”
Rampant corruption in Jharkhand is not a new thing. Former chief minister of Jharkhand, Madhu Koda has even been convicted in corruption charges.
And the revelation by Verma, of not being allowed to speak inside assembly, just because he wants self-rectificationin order to eradicate corruption from state, is something serious to debate on.
The MLA, has twice, raised serious questions on the functioning style of Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das and had said that Das does not listen to MLAs. However, on being asked on the same, he refused to comment.
*eNewsroom tried contacting Executive engineer Sharma to seek his comment on the allegation but he couldn’t be contacted on the same
The questions of corruption raised by JP is relevant (I congratulate him) and not new to the Indian states. Every representative earns handsome money through such commissions. But could anyone ask JP that how pure he is? Is he not gaining through the “JPK College of Competence Bhandaro” by doing lots of irregularities? Is he not accumulating properties after becoming MLA? And this could be the future planning of JP as BJP is not in good condition now in Giridih and Koderma. By the way, JP is very good in doing “opportunity politics”. Before coming to BJP, he travelled across CPI, AJSU etc.