Agriculture Minister Sudhakar Singh is allegedly involved in a paddy scam and owes the State Food Corporation $5,31 crore, according to allegations made by opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Sushil Modi. The ruling Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) is claiming that Modi made up those allegations (SFC).
Modi was spreading lies out of aggravation over his loss of power in Bihar, according to RJD spokesman Shakti Singh Yadav on Monday. Singh never engaged in unethical behaviour when delivering rice to the SFC, he continued, and he owed no money to the government.
Singh, according to Yadav, played no part in the 2011–12 scam. He said that the Supreme Court's arbitrator, who was assigned to determine the amount owed by the rice millers, rejected SFC's allegations against Singh. "Hence, Sudhakar Singh owed the state government nothing."
He denied reports that the high court ordered Singh to post $60,000 as bail and noted that there was no need to do so because the minister never applied for bail there.
Singh provided rice to the SFC in accordance with the contract, he noted. Yadav claimed that after the paddy scam went out, the state government filed proceedings against all millers, leading to Singh being placed in judicial detention.
Shivanand Tiwari, the RJD's leader, also criticised Sushil Modi for assaulting Singh. "Why was Modi in the BJP when he met Sudhakar Singh in prison? Now that he has left the BJP and assumed the position of minister, Sudhakar has turned corrupt. "Why did Modi meet Sudhakar Singh in jail when he was in the BJP? Now, he left the BJP and became the minister, and Sudhakar has become corrupt.''