A Janata Dal United MLA has accused a Bihar minister from her party of extortion and murder and threatened to step down if she is not sacked, increasing the new Grand Alliance dispensation’s unease over cabinet berths.

The outburst from Bima Bharti, the MLA of Rupauli in Purnea district, against Leshi Singh came two days after Leshi was made food and consumer protection minister during a cabinet expansion that followed chief minister Nitish Kumar’s dumping of the BJP and joining hands with the RJD-led Opposition Grand Alliance to form a new government.

A furious Nitish said the party would take action against Bharti if she did not mend her ways, hinting that she may have vented her frustration at not being included in the cabinet. Bharti had been minister twice, her last stint as sugarcane minister ending in 2020 when Assembly elections were held.

Bharti told reporters on Thursday: “Leshi Singh is involved in criminal activities. She is involved in extortion, threats and murder of people who speak against her. I will resign as MLA if she is not dismissed from the cabinet.”

Bharti asserted she was not angry at not being made a minister, but was concerned over the induction of people with “criminal antecedents”.

“Leshi is accused in a murder-and-extortion case. People have agitated against her in Purnea. Deputy chief minister Tejashwi Prasad Yadav held media conferences against her last year. The woman whose husband was murdered had wept and levelled allegations against her. Such people should not be given a place in the cabinet,” Bharti said.

She was referring to the murder of Purnea zilla parishad member Vishwajit Singh on November 9, 2021.

He had unsuccessfully sought security from police, alleging that Leshi and her nephew Ashish Singh were threatening him. Ashish was arrested a few days after the murder.

When reporters asked Nitish about Bharti’s allegations, he said: “She should not say such things. We have been making Leshi a minister since 2013. She has done no wrong. We had also made Bharti a minister twice. We have done a lot for her. I am surprised over her comments. Everybody cannot be accommodated in the cabinet.”

“I have asked the party to talk to her with love. Party leaders will first try to make her understand. If she wants to go somewhere else, she is free to do so,” the chief minister added.

On Wednesday it had emerged that Kartik Kumar, an RJD lawmaker, was sworn in as law minister on the very day (August 16) he was to surrender in court in a kidnapping case.

Asked if Kartik would remain a member of the cabinet, Nitish said: “We are looking into the matter.”

Leshi, 48, is the MLA of Dhamdaha in Purnea. She has become a minister in Nitish’s cabinet for the fourth time.

Leshi’s name had cropped up in connection with the murders of RJD leader Binny Singh and journalist Niraj Jha in Purnea. However, there are no cases against Leshi as per her affidavit submitted to the Election Commission during the 2020 Assembly polls.

Leshi’s husband Madhusudan Singh alias Butan Singh was a gangster. He was shot dead in 2000.

Bharti is the wife of gangster Avdhesh Mandal. She faces four cases, including murder, criminal intimidation and possessing illegal arms, in Purnea.