Ahead of the Bihar Assembly elections, Jan Suraaj founder Prashant Kishor claimed that the state’s Deputy CM Samrat Choudhary has a criminal past and also raised concerns about the BJP leader’s educational qualifications, claiming he “never passed the matriculation exam”.
Speaking at a public meeting on Friday, Kishor accused Choudhary of being skilled at changing names and linked him to an alleged murder case, further stating that Choudhary was once known as Samrat Kumar Maurya and had been an accused in the killing of a Congress leader, as reported by ANI.
“Deputy CM Samrat Choudhary is an expert in changing names. People know that his name was Rakesh Kumar, which changed to Rakesh Kumar aka Samrat Choudhary, but this is not the complete truth. His original name was Samrat Kumar Maurya. He was accused of murder. Bombs were thrown at Congress leader Sadanand Singh, in which six people died. He came out of jail after six months, as he was a minor,” Jan Suraaj, founder, said.
Questioning his educational qualification, he said that the Bihar School Examination Board had submitted in the Supreme Court that ‘Samrat Kumar Maurya’ had failed his matriculation exam.
Kishor said, “When he became a minister, he became a member of Vidhan Parishad and was given a ministerial post. He was suspended from the post due to his young age, and Samrat Choudhary says that the matter has been settled. I will tell you what has not been settled yet. Bihar School Examination Board told the Supreme Court that Samrat Kumar Maurya, who is claiming to have passed matriculation, has received 234 marks and failed.”
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He added that Samrat Choudhary, in an affidavit, wrote that he has passed class 7.
“In 2010, in an affidavit, Samrat Choudhary wrote that he is a 7th pass. He hasn’t even passed matric, and he claims that he has a doctorate degree from the University of California… I want to ask, when did the Deputy CM pass matriculation?” he asked.
Meanwhile, Prashant Kishor also accused Bihar minister Ashok Choudhary of Benami property of over ₹200 crore.
He alleged that his PA bought a property for ₹34 lakhs, which was later transferred to Ashok Choudhary’s daughter, Shambhavi Choudhary, for ₹10 lakhs.
“Ashok Choudhary, a close aide of CM Nitish Kumar, has made a corruption record in Bihar. He has a lot of Benami Property. He had a PA, Yogendra Dutt. In 2019, Ashok Choudhary bought 0.7 acres of land under Yogendra Dutt’s name for ₹34 lakhs… Two years later, Yogendra Dutt transferred that land to Shambhavi Choudhary’s name for ₹34 lakhs, but he was paid only ₹10 lakhs,” he said.
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“Income Tax gave him (Ashok Choudhary) a notice that only ₹10 lakhs were paid for a property worth 34 lakhs… To save himself from Income Tax, he transferred ₹25 lakhs to his PA’s account… Through this Modus Operandi, in the last two years, he (Ashok Choudhary) has gathered property worth more than ₹200 crores in the name of his wife, daughter and a trust named Manav Vaibhav Vikas Trust,” he further said.
These allegations come ahead of the Bihar Assembly elections later this year.
Prashant Kishor’s Jan Suraaj is set to contest independently of the ruling NDA alliance and the Opposition’s Mahagathbandhan led by RJD and Congress.
Bihar elections are expected to take place later this year, likely in October or November, though the Election Commission of India (ECI) has yet to confirm an official date.
The NDA, which includes BJP, JD(U), and LJP, aims to retain power in the state, while the INDIA alliance, consisting of RJD, Congress, and left-wing parties, is focused on ousting Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
The current Bihar Assembly has 243 seats, with the NDA holding 131 seats—80 from BJP, 45 from JD(U), and 4 from HAM(S), plus 2 Independent supporters. The INDIA bloc has 111 seats, led by RJD with 77, Congress with 19, CPI(ML) with 11, CPI(M) with 2, and CPI with 2.
(With inputs from agencies)
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