No irregularities in Bihar teachers' recruitment, says CM Nitish Kumar

PATNA: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday dismissed allegations of irregularities in the recruitment of more than 1 lakh teachers in the state who are scheduled to get letters of appointment on Thursday.

Kumar, who will himself hand appointment letters to thousands of candidates at a grand ceremony here, also accused detractors of acting upon "instructions from above". "Tomorrow is a big day. Those who are finding faults never had any problems till they were with me. Now they are picking holes upon instructions from above," he told reporters on Wednesday.

The JD(U) leader was replying to queries about the BJP, which he dumped a year ago, and former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, with whom he burnt bridges earlier this year, terming the recruitment of 1.20 lakh teachers as a "scam". The opposition leaders have been alleging that money has exchanged hands in the selection process and many contractual teachers were being shown as fresh recruits to inflate figures which the Mahagathbandhan government was using for boasts of job creation.

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Kumar spoke to journalists on the sidelines of a function where he launched power projects worth nearly Rs 14,000 crore. In his speech, Kumar had fulminated against less than favourable coverage of his government in the press, and complained that the Centre got away with credit for many of his accomplishments. However, in his interaction with journalists, Kumar made it clear that he was "not at all angry with the press but unhappy over its muzzling".