SuMo releases Lalu audio ‘luring’ Bihar BJP MLA

Patna/Ranchi: Former Bihar deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi on Wednesday released an alleged audio clip of jailed RJD chief Lalu Prasad asking BJP’s MLA from Pirpainti, Lallan Paswan, not to vote in the election for the state legislative assembly Speaker’s post. Lalu, in the alleged telephonic conversation, promised Paswan a ministerial berth after the fall of NDA government in Bihar. BJP MLA Vijay Sinha has been elected the Speaker.

“Paswanji, congratulations ... you support us in the election of speaker tomorrow (Wednesday) and we will take your career ahead. We will make you a minister as we will bring down the government as the Speaker will be ours,” Lalu is heard saying on Tuesday in the audio. However, TOI died not verify the authenticity of the audio clip.

When Paswan said he is in the party (BJP), Lalu is heard asking him to abstain from voting in the assembly on the plea of having been infected with Corona. Paswan told ANI on Wednesday that he received the

call

from Lalu, who offered him a ministerial berth, which he refused.

“My PA (personal assistant) received the call and the person on the other side said Lalu Prasad wanted to speak to me. My PA asked him where he was calling from, to which the person said from Ranchi. I thought Laluji wanted to congratulate me for my victory in the election. He congratulated me and I also sought his blessings as he is an elderly person. Later, he asked me to be absent during the Speaker’s election,” said Paswan. Paswan said he was with Sushil Modi when the call came. “I informed Modiji immediately and the entire conversation happened in front of him,” added Paswan.

“Lalu Yadav making telephone call (XXXXXXXXXX) from Ranchi to NDA MLAs & promising ministerial berths. When I telephoned, Lalu directly picked up. I said don’t do these dirty tricks from jail, you will not succeed (sic),” tweeted Sushil Modi. TOI is not revealing the number.

RJD functionaries claimed the audio was doctored. “Sushil Modi does this every day to keep himself in the limelight. This has been his nature, although people don’t believe him. Sushil Modi is making baseless claims with no truth at all,” said RJD’s Maner MLA Bhai Virendra.

In Ranchi,

Jharkhand

IG (prison) Birendra Bhushan said that under the jail manual, no convict can use mobile phones. “Lalu Prasad is not in jail but in hospital for treatment. At present, the responsibility lies with the local administration,” he said. Bhushan said no special facility has been provided to Lalu Prasad by the jail administration.

RJD’s Jharkhand president Abhay Singh said Modi was demonstrating the character of opposition. “What else they can do except leveling baseless allegations,” he said commenting on the audio tape released by Modi in which a voice, claimed to be of Lalu, is heard, convincing a BJP MLA to vote in favour of RJD candidate in speakers election. Singh said that Lalu Prasad is a law abiding person and follows the court order. “We have not seen him using a phone so the audio is nothing but a doctored clip which is common today,” he said.

BJP’s legislative party leader Babulal Marandi however claimed it to be amounting to horse trading. He asked the state government to lodge a criminal case against Lalu Prasad and conduct a detailed probe. “There is no rule of law in the state, otherwise how can a convict make calls from jail,” he asked. Marandi appealed to the high court and Supreme Court of India to take cognizance in the matter and step in to restore rule of law.

Ranchi SSP SK Jha on the other hand said that the role of district administration was to maintain law and order and provide security. He said that adequate security deployment has been provided at the Kelly’s Bungalow where Lalu is being treated.

Senior officials in the police department said that there are jail representatives in the hospital ward and it was there responsibility to ensure that jail manual is followed. ‘Whether the people who go to meet Lalu carry mobile phones or not is a matter to be verified by the jail administration,” a police officer preferring anonymity said.

Lalu was shifted to Kelly’s Bungalow from Rims on August 5 as a precautionary measure against Covid-19 infection. Earlier, he was in shifted from Hotwar jail in Ranchi to the prison ward at Rims for treatment of multiple health disorders.