Patna: The Election Commission on Monday asked the District Magistrate ordered probe into sting against former Bihar Cabinet minister Awadhesh Prasad Kushwaha after a video purportedly showed him accepting bribe.
In a big embarrassment for the Nitish Kumar government a day before the first phase of Bihar polls, a sting video surfaced showing Kushwaha purportedly accepting Rs 4 lakh bribe after which he resigned.
"I have sent in my resignation after talking to the Chief Minister after allegations of accepting Rs 4 lakh cropped up," Kushwaha said.
"I requested the Chief Minister that I am a senior minister and I cannot continue in the office in the wake of such serious allegations," the minister for Urban Development and Registration, Excise and Prohibition said.
JDU president Sharad Yadav said that Kushwaha's resignation has been received and forwarded to the Governor for acceptance.
"As soon as we came to know about the sting operation, I had a meeting with Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and state party president Bashishtha Narayan Singh. We later spoke to Awadhesh Kushwaha who tendered his resignation," Yadav said.
He said Kushwaha will not be the JDU candidate for Pipra assembly constituency in East Champaran district where the party will field another nominee.
Kushwaha, who was seen accepting wads of currency notes in the video, purportedly for extending favours to a contractor, called it "a high-level" conspiracy hatched by his rivals.
Kushwaha said he would come clear as he has done a lot of work in the past five years and his opponents will not be successful in their attempt to tarnish his image.
The video went viral on social networking sites where Kushwaha was shown accepting money from a Mumbai-based businessman in return for favours.
Kushwaha is heard telling the businessman that crores of rupees are needed to be spent during elections following which the latter hands over wads of currency notes to him. The JDU leader also assures the businessman that he would get his work done once his alliance returns to power.
(With additional information from PTI)
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