RJD faces Rajya Sabha polls dilemma as controversial Lalu Prasad Yadav aide insists on berth with a menacing stance

Subhash Yadav, who allegedly has dubious financial dealings with some members of Lalu’s family, left RJD leaders shocked by openly talking to journalists about his demand for an RS berth.
RJD President Lalu Prasad Yadav (File | PTI)
RJD President Lalu Prasad Yadav (File | PTI)

PATNA: Bihar’s main Opposition party RJD on Thursday faced a crisis as a controversial, close aide of jailed party chief Lalu Prasad Yadav insisted on being given a Rajya Sabha berth and obliquely threatened he could bring harm to RJD’s first family if his wish was not fulfilled.

Subhash Yadav, who allegedly has dubious financial dealings with some members of Lalu’s family, left RJD leaders shocked by openly talking to journalists about his demand for an RS berth. Significantly, Subhash’s demand comes a week after the Income Tax department raided 12 premises linked to him and his mining company across the country.

“I am a strong claimant for a Rajya Sabha berth. As a disciplined worker of the party with so much contribution, I deserve to be sent to Rajya Sabha. If denied this opportunity, I will take the next logical step soon,” said Subhash Yadav, who controls the Brodson Company Private Limited.

While RJD leaders had described the raids on February 23 as a “politically motivated” action by the ruling NDA, Subhash Yadav categorically said there was no such motive. “It was a regular raid as per the rules of the income tax department. I will place before them all the details they may want when they call me to appear,” he said.

These statements were described by RJD leaders as “blackmailing tactics”. Subhash Yadav, who was recently described by deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi of BJP as a “sand mafia” in Bihar, could spill the “unsavoury details of financial dealings” between him and Lalu’s family members, said an RJD leader close to him.

Modi had alleged in August last that Subhash Yadav had purchased three flats in an apartment complex in Patna owned by Lalu’s wife Rabri Devi on a single day in June 2017 by paying a total price of Rs 1.72 crore. One of Subhash Yadav’s three companies, Brodson Company Private Limited, was granted sand mining licenses in six Bihar districts by the JD(U)-RJD-Congress grand alliance government that collapsed in July 2017. “The sand mafia is funding RJD,” Modi had said.

With its present strength of 79 MLAs and 27 of ally Congress, RJD can get two leaders to Rajya Sabha. The votes of 35 MLAs are needed to elect one Rajya Sabha member from the 243-member Bihar Assembly.

Lalu’s younger son and Opposition leader Tejaswi Yadav on Thursday reportedly sent a message to the RJD chief, who is lodged in a Ranchi jail since December 23 last following his conviction in the fodder scam case. “Lalujee will take a final decision on the matter, but it will not be an easy one,” said an RJD legislator privy to the party’s efforts to tackle the crisis.

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