Many thieves in my department, am chief of thieves: Bihar Minister

Bihar Agriculture Minister Sudhakar Singh has termed officials and employees of his department "thieves", and quipped that this made him "a chief of thieves".

"There are many thieves in my department and they are stealing money. As I am the in-charge of the department, I become their chief. There are many other chiefs above me. This government is old and its style of work is also old. It's up to the duty of common people to alert the government," he said while addressing a gathering of farmers in Kaimur district on Sunday.

"If you burn effigies, I will realise that something is going wrong. But if you don't do it, I believe that everything is okay," he said.

Singh, the son of RJD state President Jagadanand Singh and the MLA from Ramgarh in Kaimur, is holding the key portfolio in the Nitish Kumar government.