Land-for-job charges baseless, says Lalu; Cong supports him

On allegations of giving Railway jobs to people in lieu of their land, Yadav said the Railways Minister had absolutely no role to play in the appointment of Railway employees, either permanent or temporary and all appointments are made as per procedure laid down. Calling the charge of disbursing political favours for land as “juvenile”, Lalu said if political favours were to be granted in this manner, all those with landed property would have come to hold political offices”.

Dispelling notions of any wrongdoing in the transfer of Yatri Niwases to IRCTC, Lalu said the policy decision on the matter was taken during Nitish Kumar’s tenure as Railway Minister and at no stage had the files concerning transfer of Yatri Niwas or those relating to issuance and finalisation of tenders come to him for approval.

In Patna, RJD leaders said they were planning to file a defamation suit against JD(U) state chief Rajiv Ranjan Singh and party spokesperson Shivanand Tiwari for making the allegations. Accepting all land purchases and donations, saying the documents were all valid, they claimed the eight plots and houses were worth just Rs 13.79 lakh — the properties would be worth several crores of rupees according to current market rates.

RJD state president Abdul Bari Siddiqui told reporters: “Everybody has the right to purchase land. When payments have been made in every transaction, where does the question of Laluji granting people Railway jobs arise?… Some of Shivanand Tiwari’s relatives also got jobs in the Railways. Let Tiwari say how much land he has given to Laluji?”

“If jobs were given in lieu of the lands, why did we make payments. The JD(U) should prove its charges or the RJD will serve Rajiv Ranjan Singh and Shivanand Tiwari with legal notices for defamation,” added RJD leader Shakil Ahmed Khan.

The party alleged that papers were removed from the documents to show as if no payments were made. Siddiqui also accused the ruling party of using the Information and Public Relations Department to procure property papers and get them photocopied. The JD(U), however, denied the allegations. The families of the alleged job beneficiaries in Danapur refused to talk to reporters.

Meanwhile, AICC spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi sought to defend the Railway Minister saying there was no crime involved as those giving the “gift” and those taking it are open about it. “If somebody has a family relationship, people do give gifts,” Singhvi said. Reminded of Mayawati’s case, in which the Congress had demanded an inquiry into the reported donation of gifts by her supporters, Singhvi said, “In Mayawati’s case, there were lakhs of miscellaneous gifts. Here, people have given gifts openly. You cannot compare the two.”

CASH AND CHEQUES

Here is RJD’s point-by-point rebuttal of the allegations:

• Misa Bharati paid Kiran Devi through a cheque (129364) of Rs 2 lakh on November 21, 2007, and subsequently Rs 1.7 lakh through another cheque (129365) on November 26, 2007, towards the purchase of an 1.8-acre plot at Bihta.

• Kanti Singh’s son Rishi Kumar had given land at Danapur to Rabri Devi as cattle owned by her had to be immediately shifted outside Patna Municipal Corporation jurisdiction after the family was asked to move to 10, Circular Road, from the Bihar Chief Minister’s official residence.

• Rabri Devi’s father Shiv Prasad Choudhary voluntarily donated 21 kathas to his daughter and hence could not be questioned legally. Choudhary had purchased the land from one Lalbabu for Rs 6.5 lakh.

• Kishundev Roy and Sanjay Roy, whose family members allegedly got railway jobs in lieu of the land, were paid Rs 7.5 lakh in cash as they had no bank accounts. The party claimed the payment details were shown in the income tax returns filed by Lalu Prasad Yadav.

• Cheques of Rs 71,000 each were paid to Manoj Kumar, Rajesh Kumar, Vinod Kumar, Gopi Krishna and Sushila Devi for a plot in name of Tej Pratap at Danapur.

• Shoba Devi, another Danapur resident, was paid Rs 2.5 lakh through a cheque (121956) on December 4, 2007.