Soil purchase row: BJP asks Nitish to sack Lalu’s son Tej Pratap Yadav

Patna: The Opposition BJP on Tuesday demanded the sacking of Lalu Yadav’s elder son and Bihar forest and environment minister Tej Pratap Yadav for his alleged involvement in a soil purchase scam worth Rs 90 lakh.

Senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi said that the Cabinet minister violated norms and gave a contract to a private company worth Rs 90 lakh for the construction of pathways and beautification of Sanjay Gandhi Zoological Park in Patna.

“Chief minister Nitish Kumar must immediately sack his Cabinet minister Tej Pratap Yadav for his involvement in soil purchase scam. The chief minister should also order a high-level enquiry into the matter,” Mr Modi said.

The senior BJP leader also claimed that RJD chief Lalu had met Mr Kumar on Monday evening after names of his family members surfaced into the soil purchase scam.  

Mr Modi says that a huge amount of soil, removed from a site of a mall, has been sold to the Patna zoo.”There was complete nexus and at the behest of Tej Pratap Yadav, this soil was purchased,” he said

He said the shopping mall is being built on the land transferred to Delight Marketing Company Private Limited in which Tej Pratap, his younger brother and deputy chief minister of Bihar Tejaswi and sister Chanda are directors.

The RJD chief, however, denied the allegation and said that the BJP was raising “baseless issues without any valid proof to malign the image of my family”. He said, “There must be some record about money being transferred in the name of my family members. I am ready to face any probe to prove my family’s innocence into the matter”.

Sources close to Lalu Yadav said that leaders of RJD including his minister son Tej Pratap Yadav is planning to file a defamation suit against BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi ”for dragging Lalu Yadav and his family’s name into a scam case without presenting any proof”.