Patna: In fresh trouble for Lalu Prasad, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA in Bihar on Thursday lodged a first information report (FIR) alleging that the jailed Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) president had approached him with enticements in exchange for helping the opposition party in defeating the ruling NDA on the floor of the state assembly.Lalan Kumar Paswan, who lodged the FIR with the vigilance department, held that the RJD chief’s alleged act was tantamount to “corruption” since, as a member of the legislative assembly, he was a “public servant” whom Prasad had tried to entice away from “performing the constitutional obligation of taking part in voting in the House”.The RJD president is currently in Ranchi and serving sentences in fodder scam cases.The Jharkhand government has ordered a probe into Prasad allegedly telephoning an NDA MLA in Bihar asking him to abstain from voting during the election to the speaker of the assembly. The jail inspector general said he ordered an inquiry after himself hearing the purported audio clip of the conversation between Lalu Prasad and the legislator. He said the jail manuals do not allow the use of a phone or mobile during judicial custody and if the allegations were found correct, it would be enquired how the mobile phone came to Lalu Prasad and who is responsible for it.RJD’s candidate Awadh Bihari Chaudhary lost to the NDA nominee Vijay Kumar Sinha by eight votes and the flamboyant RJD supremo seemed to suggest, if indeed the telephone conversation is authentic, that a defeat of the BJP-supported candidate would lead to the fall of the newly-installed Nitish Kumar government.“We will take good care of you… make you a minister,” Prasad could be heard as saying in the audio clip and assuring Paswan that if he made himself scarce, he would remain protected against possible disqualification since “we will have our own speaker”.Addressing a press conference after lodging the FIR, Paswan said, “The episode reflects the mindset of the RJD which has learnt no lessons despite being out of power for 15 years. I am a Dalit and, with a bank balance of just Rs 928, called the poorest member of the newly-constituted assembly.“The RJD leadership seems to believe that people from such socio-economic backgrounds are always up for sale.”He recalled with indignation, “I had greeted him so respectfully, even uttered charan sparsh (denoting touching of feet) keeping his seniority in view. But what he said left me shattered. Thankfully, I was at the place of our senior Sushil Kumar Modi in whom I found an anchor”.Also read: The Numbers Hide a Political Churning in BiharLalu’s alleged horse-trading audio clipA few days ago, Sushil Modi, the state’s former deputy chief minister and a BJP heavyweight, shared the one and a half minute long clip on his official Twitter handle wherein Prasad can be heard speaking to the Pirpainti MLA Lalan Kumar.He had also shared the number from which calls were being made to NDA MLAs claimed to have himself spoken to Prasad on the same, warning the flamboyant RJD supremo against “dirty tricks”.The senior BJP leader also subsequently shared the audio clip and transcript of the conversation on the social media platform. His first tweet, mentioning the mobile number from which the call was made, was, however, removed earlier in the day by Twitter.The mobile number is said to be of a personal attendant of the RJD boss who had been allowed access to the leader at a bungalow inside the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences premises, where he had been lodged on account of poor health, until the latest happenings led to his being shifted back to a paid ward in the hospital.Meanwhile, smaller NDA allies also came out with claims of having spurned similar overtures from Prasad while the JD(U), headed by chief minister Nitish Kumar, furiously demanded that he be sent to Tihar jail.“He had contacted members of my party with the request that they help him get through to me. I never obliged,” said former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, the founding president of Hindustani Awam Morcha.Vikassheel Insaan Party chief Mukesh Sahni also told reporters: “I had received a call from Lalu Prasad… I will divulge details of conversation at an appropriate time”.Neeraj Kumar, JD(U) MLC and a former minister, said this is clear evidence that despite being away from Bihar, Lalu Prasad is trying to influence the state’s politics in the “most unethical way”.“Enough of leniency on the ground of ill-health. He should immediately be brought back to Hotwar jail in Ranchi and steps should be initiated to shift him to Tihar in New Delhi where he will receive quality medical treatment without any opportunity to indulge in such machinations,” he said.Incidentally, a bail plea of Prasad in Dumka treasury case is scheduled for hearing by the Jharkhand high court. If the bail is granted, the septuagenarian may walk out of custody after more than two years.RJD MLA and chief spokesman Bhai Virendra questioned the veracity of the audio, pointing out that there was no dearth of mimicry artists who could copy Prasad’s peculiar voice and accent to perfection, and demanded a thorough probe to bring out the truth.(With PTI inputs)
