Mewalal Chaudhary

Mewalal Chaudhary (4 January 1953 – 19 April 2021) was a leader of Janata Dal (United) and a minister for a brief period of time in the Nitish Kumar's cabinet. He was elected from the Tarapur assembly constituency to the Bihar Legislative Assembly in 2020, and was made a minister in charge of Education in the Bihar Government. However, he had to resign just three days after his appointment, amidst row over his alleged involvement in a corruption case, for which he was booked earlier. Chaudhary was an educationist, and prior to becoming a legislator, he was serving as Vice Chancellor of various agricultural universities in Bihar.[1][2][3][4][5]

Mewalal Chaudhary
Mewa Lal Chaudhary
Minister of Education
Government of Bihar
In office
16 November 2020 – 19 November 2020
Preceded byKrishana Nandan Prasad Verma
Janata Dal (United)
Member of the Bihar Legislative Assembly
In office
November 2015 – 19 April 2021
ConstituencyTarapur (Vidhan Sabha constituency)
Preceded byNeeta Choudhary
Personal details
Born(1953-01-04)4 January 1953
Munger district, Bihar
Died19 April 2021(2021-04-19) (aged 68)
Paras Hospital, Patna
Political partyJanata Dal (United)
SpouseNeeta Choudhary
EducationMaster of Science in Agriculture
PHD
ProfessionAgriculturist, Vice Chancellor of Bihar Agricultural University

Biography

Born on 4 January 1953 to Deep Narayan Chaudhary in Munger district, Choudhary was Master of Science in Agriculture. He belonged to Kushwaha community.[6] He was married to Neetu Chaudhary, who was a JD(U) MLA. Neetu however died in an accident caused by gas cylinder blast at her residence.[7] He entered active politics in 2010 and remained successful in getting elected to Bihar Legislative Assembly in the year 2015 on the ticket of Janata Dal (United). He defeated Shakuni Choudhury of Hindustani Awam Morcha in that election.[8]

He served as Vice Chancellor of Rajendra Agricultural University, Pusa, Samastipur and Bihar Agricultural University, Sabaur. Chaudhary was also one of the member of the Committee, which drafted Bihar Agricultural roadmap. Serving as the horticultural commissioner of the Government of India, he assisted in development of the draft horticulture mission, micro irrigation project as well as National Bamboo Mission.[9] He has also worked for the upliftment of downtrodden.[10]

Chaudhary was allegedly involved in mismanagement of appointments to Bihar Agricultural University on the post of junior scientists and Professors while he was its head in 2017. Consequently, he was sacked by the ruling JD (U), which was ruling in alliance with the Rashtriya Janata Dal with its former ally Bharatiya Janata Party in opposition.[11] In the same year he was granted anticipatory bail in the said case and was taken back in the party in 2018.[12]

Chaudhary once again won from the Tarapur seat and was appointed education minister in the Nitish Kumar cabinet in 2020. His appointment was questioned by the opposition; meanwhile serious allegations were also made against him, regarding death of his wife, by an Indian Police Service officer, who linked it to political conspiracy pertaining to the Bihar Agricultural University 2017 scam.[13][14][15] On 19 November 2020, just three days after assuming the office of education minister, he resigned amidst protest by the opposition regarding giving the ministerial berth to an accused of corruption. He was allegedly involved in fraudulent appointment to the post of agricultural Scientist and junior Professor during his tenure as Vice Chancellor of Bihar Agricultural University.[16]

Death

Chaudhary died on 19 April 2021 due to COVID-19 at Paras hospital in Patna, Bihar.[17]

References
  1. Kumar, Avinash (17 November 2020). "Nitish Kumar draws RJD fire for appointing scam-tainted Mewalal Choudhary education minister". Hindustan Times. Archived from the original on 17 November 2020. Retrieved 17 November 2020.
  2. "मेवालाल चौधरीः अब बनाए गए मंत्री, पर तब नीतीश ने कर दिया था निष्काषित; पत्नी भी रहीं JDU विधायक". jansatta. 17 November 2020. Archived from the original on 8 May 2021. Retrieved 17 November 2020.
  3. "Bihar Cabinet Portfolio Allocation: CM Nitish Keeps Home, Tarkishore Gets Finance". india.com. Archived from the original on 9 April 2022. Retrieved 17 November 2020.
  4. "Despite a perfect 'caste' balancing exercise, no Muslim could find place in Nitish Kumar's new cabinet in Bihar". The Times of India. 17 November 2020. Archived from the original on 8 May 2021. Retrieved 17 November 2020. Among the four backward caste ministers, two –Bijendra Prasad Yadav (Ahir) and Mewalal Choudhary (Koeri) hail from the JD(U), while the rest two – Deputy CM Tarkishore Prasad (Kalwar) and Ram Surat Kumar (Ahir) are the BJP legislators.
  5. "BJP's social engineering on display as Nitish takes oath as Bihar CM with new NDA colleagues". theprint. 16 November 2020. Archived from the original on 30 June 2022. Retrieved 17 November 2020. Little-known Sheela Mandal was also sworn in and so was Mewa Lal Choudhary, a Kushwaha and former vice-chancellor of Bihar Agricultural University in Sabour. Choudhary had once faced corruption charges and had underground as he was expelled from the party.
  6. "How BJP got JD(U)'s Mewa Lal to resign as Nitish's minister within an hour of taking charge". the Print. 19 November 2020. Archived from the original on 18 February 2023. Retrieved 18 February 2023.
  7. "JDU की पूर्व विधायक नीता चौधरी का निधन, CM नीतीश ने व्यक्त किया शोक". livehindustan.com. Archived from the original on 13 October 2020. Retrieved 17 November 2020.
  8. "Tarapur Election Result 2020 Live Updates: Mewa Lal Choudhary of JDU Wins". News18. 10 November 2020. Archived from the original on 9 May 2021. Retrieved 28 November 2020.
  9. "Cane and Bamboo Technology Centre (CBTC)" (PDF). cbtc.org.
  10. "Mewalal Chaudhary" (PDF). Bihar Vidhan Sabha. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 May 2021. Retrieved 17 November 2020.
  11. "Bihar Assembly disrupted over JD(U) MLA Mewalal Chaudhary's arrest". The New Indian Express. Archived from the original on 29 July 2021. Retrieved 17 November 2020.
  12. Kumar, Avinash (17 November 2020). "Nitish Kumar draws RJD fire for appointing scam-tainted Mewalal Choudhary education minister". Hindustan Times. Archived from the original on 17 November 2020. Retrieved 17 November 2020.
  13. "Former IPS officer seeks probe into death of education minister Mewa Lal Choudharys wife, sparks political row". Zee Business. 17 November 2020. Archived from the original on 8 May 2021. Retrieved 17 November 2020.
  14. "RJD targets Nitish over corruption case against his minister". The Indian Express. Archived from the original on 17 November 2020. Retrieved 17 November 2020.
  15. "करप्शन के आरोप पर मेवालाल की चुप्पी, आरजेडी का वार-जेडीयू का पलटवार". Aajtak. 17 November 2020. Archived from the original on 8 May 2021. Retrieved 17 November 2020.
  16. "Bihar education minister Mewalal Choudhary resigns over corruption row". The Times of India. 19 November 2020. Archived from the original on 19 November 2020. Retrieved 19 November 2020.
  17. "JDU MLA Mewalal Choudhary dies due to Covid-19". India Today. Archived from the original on 19 April 2021. Retrieved 19 April 2021.
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