‘Lalu min’s wife gifted land to 44-mth-old Tej’

Patna: A day after representing to the Election Commission of India in Delhi to demand disqualification of RJD chief Lalu Prasad’s elder son Tej Pratap from Bihar legislative assembly, senior BJP functionary Sushil Kumar Modi on Tuesday accused Tej of getting a gift of land with “mala fide” intention when he was only 44 months old.

Addressing a press conference in Patna, Modi alleged two plots of land at Muzaffarpur, together measuring 13.12 acre, were gifted Tej, now state health minister, by Rama Devi, currently a BJP MP from Sheohar, on March 23, 1992.

Rama Devi is wife of late Brij Bihari Prasad, who was the state minister of science and technology and energy departments when Lalu was the CM.

The gift deed, according to Modi, reads, “Tej Pratap is beloved of Rama Devi and she has whole lot of affection for him. Tej Pratap too takes care of happiness of Rama Devi quite well. Despite being a minor, Tej took care of Rama Devi with utmost dedication. Pleased by the service of Tej, Rama Devi decided to gift the land to him in her lifetime.”

“How can a 44-month-old child take care of Rama Devi and what kind of service can he provide to her? The land was transferred under the same modus operandi under which the then RJD MPs Raghunath Jha and Kanti Singh gifted their properties worth several crores to Lalu family in lieu of getting ministerial berths under the RJD quota in UPA-I government at Centre,” the leader of opposition in state legislative council said on the sidelines of his weekly janata darbar.

Modi, a former deputy CM, has held a number of press conferences since April to expose alleged benami properties and financial irregularities committed by Lalu family. He earlier alleged Lalu got former Union minister Raghunath Jha’s plot in Gopalganj registered in the name of his sons Tej Pratap and Tejashwi Prasad Yadav.

At another presser, Modi claimed the then Union heavy industries minister Kanti Singh transferred her land in Patna to Rabri in lieu of getting a ministerial berth.