Patna: Bihar politician Lalu Yadav has rubbished allegations of corrupt land deals, hitting out at the BJP and its ideological mentor the Rashtriya Swayansevak Sangh (RSS) for what he called an attempt to sully his image. He said the charges that he and his children own benaami or proxy property worth a 1,000 crores have been fabricated to exact political revenge.
His sharpest attack is on the BJP's senior Bihar leader Sushil Kumar Modi, who has released documents over weeks that he says support his allegations against Mr Yadav, who is chief of the Rashtriya Janata Dal or RJD. "They call me the biggest zamindar, they say I am the biggest land owner in Bihar," Lalu Yadav told NDTV on Friday, alleging that Sushil Modi has ensured bad press for him after the Income Tax department searched multiple properties in and around Delhi as part of its investigation earlier this week.
"Whatever my children have acquired be it land, shares, the details are in public domain. The Income Tax department has the details about it," Mr Yadav said, defending the move to build a mall in Patna on land owned by his family. "What's wrong in building a mall," he asked, detailing that he "shared 50:50 with the builder, so how does it all come into my account."
"I am the head of the family and overseeing everything and this is an attempt to create a bad perception about me," the 69-year-old leader added.
Lalu Yadav insists that he is being targeted because of his persistent criticism of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP and RSS which he charges with being "fascist." In aggressive tweets all week he has accused the BJP with misusing central agencies against him and said that he will be "intimidated."
He has also called it an attempt to scuttle his efforts to bring together opposition parties at a giant anti-BJP rally in Patna in August.
Sushil Modi has suggested that Lalu Yadav should not bother with those plans as he is "likely to be in jail by August."
His sharpest attack is on the BJP's senior Bihar leader Sushil Kumar Modi, who has released documents over weeks that he says support his allegations against Mr Yadav, who is chief of the Rashtriya Janata Dal or RJD. "They call me the biggest zamindar, they say I am the biggest land owner in Bihar," Lalu Yadav told NDTV on Friday, alleging that Sushil Modi has ensured bad press for him after the Income Tax department searched multiple properties in and around Delhi as part of its investigation earlier this week.
"I am the head of the family and overseeing everything and this is an attempt to create a bad perception about me," the 69-year-old leader added.
Advertisement
He has also called it an attempt to scuttle his efforts to bring together opposition parties at a giant anti-BJP rally in Patna in August.
Advertisement
COMMENTS
Advertisement
Bihar IAS Officer, Ex Lalu Yadav Party MLA Raided In Money Laundering Case Delhi Lt Governor Greenlights Probe Against Jailed AAP Leader In CCTV Corruption Case NDA Constituents Scoff At Lalu Yadav's "Weak Central Government" Charge After Retest, Haryana NEET Centre With Most Top Scorers Gave This Result... The 'Fake' CrowdStrike Worker Who Took Credit For Biggest-Ever IT Outage What Recovery Of Austrian Gun 'Steyr AUG' From J&K Terrorists Means Newborn Saved From Dead Mother's Womb After Israel Strikes Gaza Hospital Florida Cops Urge Locals To Stop Taking Selfies With "Depressed" Bear 5 People From Jharkhand's Jamtara Convicted For Money Laundering Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world.