Patna: Union Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, whose brother is in the eye of a controversy over child labourers tilling his land, has expressed his "surprise and dismay" at "politicisation" of the issue by Bihar's NDA government.

Singh also demanded immediate dismissal of Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi. "The practice of child labour is a blemish and crime under the law but the way your government is playing politics over it has surprised and dismayed me," Singh wrote to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar last evening in a letter.

Modi, who also holds the labour portfolio, had made public the report of a panel headed by state s Labour Commissioner Vimalanand Jha, which confirmed the story beamed by various news channels showing two children being used as oxen to till the farmland of Raghuraj Singh, the union minister s brother at Shahpur village in Vaishali district.

Singh said the initial inquiry conducted by Deputy Labour Commissioner Muzaffarpur, S K Rai, had found the allegation of using child labourers by Raghuraj as "stage-managed and planted" by TV channels.

"The first inquiry into the charge was also held on the directive of the government, but it seems that since its report was not to the liking of the government, a second one was ordered," Singh said.

"Modi," he said, "is guilty of breaching official secrecy by publicising the confidential report of the second inquiry and of acting out of political prejudice. He must be immediately dismissed or it will be concluded that the entire government is involved in the episode."

Source : PTI