Apprehensive that RJD chief and Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav could use his influence at the Centre to indict the state Government, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has managed to scuttle an inquiry in the Kosi breach by a central high-level expert committee. A team set up by the Ministry of Water Resources was supposed to go into the cause of the breach besides suggesting remedial measures to avoid a similar tragedy that has affected more than three million people in north Bihar. Now, the team will only suggest long-term measures after visiting the site of the breach.

The state Government raised the issue with the Principal Secretary to the PM arguing that since the state had already constituted a one-man judicial commission under a former chief Justice of the Patna High Court to probe the reasons of the Kosi breach, there was “no need” for a separate inquiry. To press the point, sources say, the state Government did not facilitate the visit of its Kosi Breach Closure Advisory Committee for a week to the site, citing “confusion over overlapping terms of reference” after the Centre constituted its team.

However, given that the breach in Kosi has taken place in the Nepalese territory, confusion remains whether the Nepal Government will allow the inspection of the one-man judicial commission set up unilaterally by the Bihar Government. The concerns that the commission may indict it would weigh heavily on the Nepal administration.

With Lalu and Kumar engaged in a blame game over the Kosi floods, the sparring over the incident is likely to further gain momentum after the state Government’s commission submits its report in six months.