Nitish Kumar 'missing', posters found in Patna

Patna, Dec 18: Posters declaring that Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has gone "missing" and criticising him for his "silence" on the amended Citizenship Act were found in various localities of Patna on Wednesday.

The municipal corporation of Patna has lodged complaints with the police about the posters spotted in office buildings, schools, billboards and road dividers in Kotwali, Gandhi Maidan and Shastri Nagar police station areas.

"Along with the complaints, the posters which were put up illegally have also been submitted with the respective police stations. A request has been made to register FIRs against unidentified persons for defacing public property," said Vishwa Mohan Prasad, the revenue officer for Nutan Rajdhani Circle of the Patna Nagar Nigam.

Police sources said FIRs have been lodged against unnamed persons and investigations were on.

The chief minister, who is on a state-wide "Jal- Jeevan-Hariyali Yatra", is currently touring central Bihar.

In the posters, Kumar was targeted for his "silence" on the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill which was passed by Parliament with his JD(U) voting in favour of it, and on the National Register for Citizens (NRC), which he has been opposed to in principle.

One of these posters was found close to the state headquarters of the RJD, founded and headed by Kumar's arch rival Lalu Prasad, fueling suspicions that these were handiwork of the opposition party.

Moreover, news items pertaining to the posters were shared by Prasad who is in Ranchi serving sentences in fodder scam cases and his younger son and heir apparent Tejashwi Yadav on their respective twitter handles.

The RJD has sharpened its attack on the JD(U) chief in the wake of the CAB becoming an Act hoping for a decline in the chief minister's popularity among the state's Muslims.

When asked about the posters, RJD spokesperson Ejya Yadav asserted that the party had nothing to do with these and that the state government was "blaming the opposition to cover up its own follies".

Meanwhile, the JD(U) took the bait and came up with a poster claiming that the opposition party is afraid, though it did not name any party.

At the state headquarters of the JD(U), situated on the Birchand Patel Marg with the RJD office right across the road, stood the gigantic poster carrying an image of the chief minister, with "15 years versus 15 years" and "bharosa banaam bhay" (trust versus fear) written on it.

The ruling party poster also used birds as a metaphor with its decade-and-a-half-long rule likened to a dove a symbol of peace and the years that preceded its ascent to power were compared to vultures.