Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Lalan Kumar Paswan on Thursday filed an first information report against Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav for offering him a ministerial berth and persuading him to side with the Opposition during the election for the post of the Speaker in the Bihar Assembly, PTI reported.
On Tuesday, former Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi had asked Yadav to refrain from “these dirty tricks” and shared a mobile number that he claimed the jailed politician was using to poach National Democratic Alliance MLAs in the state. However, RJD spokesperson Mritunjay Tiwary said the allegations were baseless and concocted.
Modi, who had shared an audio clip of Yadav’s purported conversation with Paswan, tweeted again about the details of the FIR filed in Patna. He said the Pirpainti MLA has lodged his FIR against Yadav at the vigilance police station under the Prevention of Corruption Act and relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code.
The senior BJP leader said that Yadav’s offer of ministerial birth “amounts to bribing and alluring a public servant”.
Hindustani Awam Morcha President Jitan Ram Manjhi also claimed that the RJD chief had made several bids by telephoning his close aides to talk to him over the Speaker’s election, which was eventually won by NDA candidate and BJP leader Vijay Kumar Sinha.
The FIR was filed a day after the Jharkhand government ordered an inquiry into the phone call allegedly made by Yadav. Jharkhand Inspector General (Prison) Birendra Bhushan had said that jail manuals do not allow using phones when in judicial custody, adding that if the allegations were found true, another inquiry would be set up to ascertain where the mobile phone came from and who was responsible for it.
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