'JD-U leaders afraid of my popularity', says Samrat Chaudhary

Patna, June 12 (IANS) After JD-U MLC Neeraj Kumar put a question mark over his 'fake' degree, Bihar BJP President Samrat Chaudhary said on Monday that he had disclosed his degree in 2019 and it is in public domain.

"JD-U leaders are afraid of my popularity and hence they are levelling false allegations. I had disclosed my degree in 2019 and it is in public domain," Chaudhary said.

"I had levelled allegations against JD-U national President (Rajiv Ranjan Singh 'Lalan') for serving liquor in Munger, but none of the senior leaders took legal action against me. The notice was served by a district-level member of JD-U, who is a proven alcohol consumer," Chaudhary said.

"They had tried to threaten Lalu Prasad in the past. They are thinking that BJP will also get frightened with such a ploy. This BJP belongs to Narendra Modi and Amit Shah, which cannot be frightened.

"We will give appropriate answers to the game they are playing. Just wait and watch. When I became the minister for the first time, they made a hue and cry over it. Now they are doing it again," Chaudhary said.

Earlier, JD-U MLC and chief spokesperson of the party, Neeraj Kumar, had raised the issue of fake degree of Chaudhary and asked him to clarify within 72 hours.

While referring to his election affidavit, Neeraj Kumar had said that Samrat Chaudhary filed an affidavit with the Election Commission in 2005 and wrote his name as Rakesh Kumar s/o Sakuni Chaudhary.

In 2010, he submitted an affidavit with the name Samrat Chaudhary alias Rakesh Kumar s/o Sakuni. Before the 2020 Assembly elections, he had written Samrat Chaudhary, s/o Sakuni Chaudhary.

"This question is important keeping in view that he has claimed to be taking a D-Litt degree from California Public University. When we searched for universities in the USA, we did not find California Public University.

"Which new university is this? You have taken the degree, but what grade did you obtain? As he claimed to be a highly-qualified person who had taken a degree from the USA, we searched your mark sheet and roll number, but failed to find it. We have heard about Oxford University, Harvard University, University of California, but we have not heard of any university having the name California Public University. You have mentioned the name of California Public University in the affidavit, which is fake," Kumar said.