PATNA: The corrupt deals allegedly engaged in by jailed RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav are now described in detail in a book written by none other than his political arch-rival and Bihar deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi of BJP.
The 300-page book in Hindi, called ‘Lalu Leela’ (Exploits of Lalu), is set for launch on October 11, the birth anniversary of socialist icon Loknayak Jayaprakash Narayan. This is Modi’s second book. His first, ‘Beech Samar Mein’ (In the Middle of War), had come out two years ago and centred around his imprisonment during the Emergency.
Modi, arguably the tallest leader of BJP in Bihar, has been instrumental in exposing the multiple business and land deals that Lalu Prasad Yadav and his family members executed in alleged violation of laws. These deals made RJD’s first family the owners of prime properties across Bihar and in Delhi NCR. Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) are already probing these cases after registering FIRs.
‘Lalu Leela’, published by prominent publisher Prabhat Prakashan, gives detailed accounts of the “dishonest and illegal manner” in which Yadav and his family members became owners of several plots of prime land.
“Lalu Prasad Yadav got land and buildings donated to his family members by his party’s leaders like Raghunath Jha and Kanti Singh in exchange for making them MLA, MLC, MP and ministers. In order to turn the black money obtained through corruption into white, Lalu also got prime land and buildings donated to his family members by people from BPL category such as Lalan Chaudhary, railway worker Hridayanand Chaudhary, Prabunath Yadav, Chandrakanta Devi and Subhash Chaudhary in return for jobs, contracts or other gains,” says the book.
The benami companies owned by Lalu’s family members and close aides find special mention in the book. Modi had started exposing these companies one by one with documentary evidence in a series of press conferences last year when RJD was in power in Bihar. The exposes finally led to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar of JD(U) walking out of the Grand Alliance and resuming ties with BJP in July 2017.
RJD leaders preferred to keep quiet on the book’s publication. Delhi’s Patiala House Court granted regular bail to Lalu’s son and former Bihar deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav and his mother Rabri Devi in the IRCTC land scam case lodged by CBI.