Key Takeaways
- Lalu Prasad Yadav is being interrogated by the ED in connection with the ‘land for job’ scam in Railways.
- The scam involves Lalu Prasad giving jobs in exchange for land during his tenure as Railway Minister.
- Nitish Kumar has joined hands with the BJP to form the NDA government in Bihar, a move that has sparked controversy.
Patna: A day after Chief Minister Nitish Kumar walked away from Grand Alliance and joined hands with the BJP to form NDA government in Bihar, Enforcement Directorate(ED) on Monday started interrogating RJD chief Lalu Prasad in “land for job” scam in Railways during his tenure as Railway Minister.
Responding to summon issued to him by ED, Prasad went to Patna -based ED office to be present for interrogation. He was accompanied by his daughter and RJD member of Rajya Sabha Misa Bharti but she was not allowed to enter inside campus of ED office.
Bharti was later, however, allowed to go inside campus of ED office where she handed over medicines and drinking water to authorities to be given to Lalu who is suffering from various ailments. Bharti came out of ED office after handing over medicines and water for Lalu. She had raised strong objection when authorities did not allow her to enter inside office campus.
ED is investigating the case relating to land for job scam. As per allegation mentioned in FIR, Lalu had got registered plots in name of his family members in lieu of jobs given to aspirants in Group D category when he was Railway Minister during the regime of Congress led UPA government at the Centre from 2004 to 2009.
Interestingly, Chief Minister Kumar, in a dramatic development, walked away from the Grand Alliance on Sunday and joined hands with BJP to form NDA government.
Even in 2017, Kumar then walked away from the Grand Alliance and joined hands with the BJP, saying he couldn’t make any compromise with corruption.
The ED had conducted raids at the residence of RJD chief Lalu Prasad in Patna and his other locations across the country in connection with same case in 2017. Nitish had snapped ties with BJP and joined hands with RJD to form Grand Alliance government alleging that saffron party was trying to create split in his party JD(U).
