Author: Amarnath Tewary
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: August 14, 2008
Lalu faces mounting anger
A day after Janata Dal(U) Bihar president
Rajiv Ranjan Singh exposed how Railways Minister Lalu Prasad has become a
landlord worth Rs 100 crore in just four years by giving away jobs in lieu
of land and property, the RJD leaders on Wednesday jumped into the ring to
save their master the ignominy.
In response to 600 pages of land documents
released by the JD(U), the RJD released a four-page explanation. Interestingly,
in some of the cases, the party conceded the charges.
Take for example:
Referring to one such land deal, the RJD leaders
admittedly explained that Rabri Devi's father had purchased about 21 kattas
in 2004 from Lal Babu Prasad and Kalawati Devi for Rs 6.5 lakh and since it
was his "heartiest wish" to gift the land to his daughter, he did
so in his lifetime. "So it is ridiculous to allege that the land was
bought by money given by Rabri Devi," the RJD responded.
Interestingly, Shiv Prasad Chaudhary was a
few years ago allotted gair-majurwa land in his village Selar Kalan in Gopalgunj.
These plots were given only to landless people.
Before "purchasing" a total of 21
kattas, Shiv Prasad Chaudhary was a landless man. "But suddenly he got
enough money in 2004 to buy the land plots and gift them to his daughter in
2006?" wondered JD(U) State president.
In another reference, the RJD admitted that
Lalu's brother-in-law Prabhunath Yadav had bought one-and-a-half katta in
1980, on which a few rooms were constructed. It was later gifted by him to
Lalu's sons Tej Pratap and Tejashwi Yadav. The JD (U) had made the same allegation
earlier, apprehending that like Shiv Prasad Chaudhary this land too might
have been purchased in the name of Prabhunath Yadav by Lalu's family.
In a different reference, the RJD admitted
that when Lalu had to vacate the chief ministerial bungalow at 1 Anne Marg,
he was forced to look for a place to shift his animal farm. In this situation,
Kanti Singh and her son Rishi Kumar donated their land on lease for making
a cowshed in Danapaur. The JD (U) had earlier made the same allegation, saying
RJD leader Kanti Singh had donated her land for political profit. Kanti Singh
is a Minister in the UPA Cabinet from RJD quota.
Similarly, the RJD made it clear in another
reference that in his capacity as a member of the Grih Nirman Sahyog Samiti
Limited, Patna Minister and RJD MP Jai Prakash Yadav had signed the registration
of a plot allotted to party MP and Lalu aide Prem Chand Gupta. The RJD response
also claimed that these issues were earlier cleared by both Kanti Singh and
Raghunath Jha.
Incidentally, all those RJD leaders who were
involved in the "donation" of the land/properties to Lalu's family
are Ministers in the UPA Government from the party quota.
And in almost all land dealings between Lalu's
family and others, two names are permanent fixtures: Bhola Yadav, s/o Sri
Ram Prakash Yadav, A-3/4, Rajbanshi Nagar, Bailey Road, Patna; and Anwar Alam,
deed writer, Sadar registry office, Patna (L No 03/02).
Bhola Yadav is currently Lalu's Man Friday
and takes care of all his family and official obligations at the RJD chief's
10 Circular Road residence in Patna. It is said that he works as Officer on
Special Duty (OSD) for Lalu, though it's not been confirmed.
Anwar Alam, s/o late Abul Khair, has -- along
with Bhola Yadav --been mentioned as witness in the house gifted by Raghunath
Jha to Lalu's sons in Gopalgunj.
Meanwhile, the papers released by the RJD
mentioned cheque numbers of different denominations issued by a lesser known
bank, Awami Co-operative Bank, for buying lands by Kishundeo Rai and Sanjay
Rai. They claimed that Rs 7.5 lakh were paid to them. But who made these payments
is not clear in the papers. Both had sold their land in Danapur, Saguna, to
Rabri Devi in February 2008.
Similarly, the papers also explained that
Rs 3.55 lakh were paid to Manoj Kumar, Rajesh Kumar, Binod Kumar, Gopi Krishna
and Shushila Devi through cheque numbers 511176 to 511180. All those mentioned
had sold 2.5 kattas to Tejashwi Yadav on February 25, 2006. But it's not again
clear who made the payment, though RJD leaders said it has been shown in the
IT returns.
The party leaders claimed that Rs 2.5 lakh
were paid (cheque number 121956, issued by Awami Co-operative Bank, Patna)
to Shobha Kumari on December 4, 2007, for the land she sold to Tej Pratap,
and this payment too is mentioned in the IT returns. But again the RJD response
papers did not mention who made the payment.
A battery of senior RJD leaders -- including
Abdul Bari Siddiqui, Shyam Rajak, Ram Kripla Yadav, Shakil Ahmad Khan, Shyam
Sunder Singh Dheeraj and Dr Nihora Prasad Yadav -- later alleged that all
the land-for-job papers released by the JD (U) were "forged" and
that it was a "conspiracy to defame Lalu Prasad and his family in the
eyes of the people".
