Now, Lalu's son in petrol pump row

RJD chief Lalu Prasad’s elder son Tej Pratap, who is Health Minister in Nitish’s Cabinet, was on Friday embroiled in a fresh controversy. He has been charged with opening a petrol pump outlet on National Highway 30, on the outskirts of Patna, by submitting false documents.

He has also been charged with concealing this property while declaring his assets and liabilities in 2015 (before the Bihar Assembly election), even though the BPCL petrol pump was allotted to him in 2011.

“When Tej Pratap applied for a petrol pump, he did not have the necessary land at Beur (on NH-30). An industrialist Amit Katiyal leased out land to his younger brother Tejaswi Yadav (now Bihar Deputy Chief Minister) for the purpose of opening a petrol pump. When Tej Pratap applied for pump, why was the land leased out to Tejaswi? And how come Tej Pratap was allotted petrol pump when he was not having the requisite land?,” asked senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi.

Backed by substantial evidence, Modi said if one applies for a petrol pump, he or she has to submit an affidavit which reads: “I also affirm that during the tenure of dealership, I will not take any employment in pvt sector and draw any salary/perks/emoluments from State/Central Government.”

“If Tej Pratap has submitted such an affidavit for the petrol pump, then has he stopped availing salary/perks/emoluments from Bihar Government where he is Minister for Health, as well as holding additional charge of Forest and Environment department?,” asked the BJP leader.

Though the RJD did not respond directly to the charges but asked Modi to come clean on his own assets declared so far. “We will soon expose how Sushil Modi has undervalued his property,” said RJD national spokesperson Manoj Jha.

Modi has been at loggerheads with RJD leaders ever since he dared to expose how Lalu Prasad amassed huge wealth in the name of immoveable property being gifted to his sons - Tej Pratap and Tejaswi - or his wife Rabri Devi by politicians and industrialists. To buttress his point, Modi had earlier cited the registration papers of the ‘land deals’ which took place when Lalu was Railway Minister in UPA-I. He, in his capacity as the RJD president, had recommended the names of Kanti Singh and Raghunath Jha to be inducted as Union ministers in Manmohan Singh Government. But for this ‘favour’, Modi alleged, Lalu made Kanti and Raghunath ‘gift’ their immoveable property to Lalu’s family.