Maha jungle raj has returned to Bihar: NDA attacks Nitish over murders

New Delhi, May 14 (IANS) NDA leaders on Saturday attacked Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar over the law and order situation in the state following the murder of a scribe and that of a teenager in Gaya and said that "maha jungle raj" has returned with the Mahagathbandhan (Grand Alliance) coming to power.

"Before the Bihar election we were saying jungle raj will return to Bihar if the Mahagathbandhan comes to power, but we were wrong. Ab to maha jungle raj aa gaya hai (Now, there is maha jungle raj)," BJP spokesman Shahnawaz Hussain said.

He said that the chief minister "has time to go to Banaras but didn't find the time to visit the victim's family in Gaya, where a teenager was murdered".

On Friday, Rajdeo Ranjan, bureau chief of the Hindi daily Hindustan, which is part of the HT group, was shot dead in a busy market near the station road in Siwan.

Rocky Yadav, the son of a Bihar lawmaker, allegedly shot dead Aditya Sachdeva, 19, last weekend in a case of road rage.

Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan was much harsher on Nitish.

"Till Nitish Kumar is chief minister, law and order situation can't improve. This is a government of rapes and murders. I have submitted a report on Bihar to President Pranab Mukherjee," he said.

"We have been demanding for President's rule in the state for last three months," Paswan said when asked whether he had demanded President rule in the state.

Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM), a constituent of the NDA, also sought President's rule in Bihar.

"The situation in Bihar has deteriorated from 'jungle raj' to 'maha jungle raj'. I have written to the prime minister demanding that the situation in Bihar is appropriate for President's rule," HAM chief and former Bihar chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi told the media.

BJP general secretary Bhupendra Yadav took to social media to attack Nitish.

"Forget common man, even police and press do not feel safe in Bihar. This says it all about lawlessness under Nitish government," he tweeted.

Union Minister Giriraj Singh tweeted, "Even tears of Gaya have not dried, the murder of a journalist in Siwan has made Bihar's blood curdle."