BJP leader and former Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar Sushil Modi on Wednesday asked Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to act against his ally RJD chief lalu Prasad who has been charged with amassing over 125 properties by way of shell companies and other corrupt means.
Modi alleged the JD(U) chief was indirectly patronising corruption by protecting his Ministers, a reference to Prasad’s two sons, and asked him to dismiss Deputy Chief Minister Tejaswi Yadav, whose three properties had been attached by enforcement agencies.
“lalu Prasad is Bihar’s Robert Vadra,” he said.
The BJP leader also claimed that two senior RJD leaders had met two Union Ministers to request them to save the political career of Prasad’s sons — Tejashwi and Bihar Health Minister Tej Pratap Yadav. The Ministers, however, rejected the request.
Central agencies have commenced investigations into the alleged benami properties of Prasad and his extended family.
Modi said most of these Benami properties were acquired between 2000 and 2009, when either Prasad’s wife Rabri Devi was the Chief Minister or he was the Railway Minister in the UPA Government.
On Bihar Chief Minister’s increased comfort level with the BJP, Modi said it was for the JDU leader who could answer the query. The BJP leader was addressing a Press conference here where he targeted Prasad on the day the RJD was celebrating its Foundation Day.
Pointing to the rags to riches story of Prasad’s family, Modi said Prasad who had cultivated an image of a simpleton with a humble background has now become the “biggest landlord” in Bihar.
“I have been disclosing his family’s property details for the last 90 days. They have acquired more than 125 properties in the last 12 years without any real business or industry. lalu Prasad is Bihar’s Robert Vadra,” Modi said.
Vadra, the son-in-law of Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, has been accused of acquiring properties in violation of rules and selling some of them at high prices soon after acquisition using his influence.
The BJP leader said Prasad destroyed his political career due to his corruption and conviction in the fodder scam, and was now ruining future of his children.
lashing out at Kumar, he said the Bihar Chief Minister speaks on his zero tolerance toward corruption but has kept quiet about the corruption charges against Prasad and his family members.
He recalled that the then Bihar JD(U) chief lalan Singh, now a Minister in the Kumar Government, and Shivanand Tiwari, who is no longer with the JD(U), had disclosed details of some such properties in 2008. At that time, the JD(U) was a BJP ally.
Several people, who were either MlAs and MPs from the RJD, gifted properties to Prasad’s family members, he said, suggesting that it was quid pro quo.