Ink thrown at Union minister Ashwini Choubey in Patna

PATNA: Ink was thrown at Union minister of state for health and family welfare Ashwini Kumar Choubey on Tuesday while he was about to sit in his car after meeting

dengue patients

and reviewing the progress of upcoming super specialty hospital at

Patna Medical College Hospital

(PMCH).


The youth who threw the ink was identified as

Nishant Jha

who later introduced himself as the state secretary of youth wing of

Jan Adhikar Party

(JAP) which is headed by former Madhepura MP Rajesh Ranjan, alias Pappu Yadav. Clad in royal blue t-shirt, the youth could be seen throwing ink from a bottle while Choubey was interacting with the media. Soon after throwing the ink, he ran away from the spot with another person.

In a face saving statement, Choubey denied he was the original target and said, “Two media people were the target and few drops splashed on me. It is actually attack on the fourth pillar of democracy.” He also said he did not know who the youth was, but it was not the right way to express grievance in a democracy.

Though the Union minister did not directly name JAP chief behind the incident, he hinted in this regard. “This is the handiwork of those who are involved in bad deeds. There are few who do criminal politics and now they have curiosity to become a big politician. Such people try to enter politics from the back door using big politicians. But they should know that the door is closed for them.”

When asked to name the person he was talking about, Choubey replied, “The world knows and I don’t need to say.” He further demanded strict action on this incident citing it breach of security. “It was an ink, but it could have a bomb too,” he added.

However, Pappu denied the role of his party in the entire episode saying the Union minister had faced the ire of common man who were left to die in their waterlogged houses without food and water. When asked whether the person who threw ink was associated with his party, he replied, “Now every Patnaite is associated with Pappu and Pappu is associated with each and every house of Patna. This was not JAP’s agenda. However, different people have different way to express anger. Will they blame me for making people protest outside deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi’s house,” said Pappu. He also dared Choubey not to speak much saying, "Respected Choubey ji is like my elder brother so he better keeps his mouth shut. I have enough proof of how he had won the election.”

Later while talking to an electronic media Nishant introduced himself as the state secretary of youth wing of JAP. “It was my personal decision and I had not got any instruction from the party. I am angry with whatever had happened in recent past and I wanted to express my anger. Earlier I had tweeted Sushil Kumar Modi in this regard, but he blocked me, so I was left with no option. Also one of my relatives lost his child due to dengue and all these incidents had disturbed me,” said Nishant.