Lalu offered help to pull down 'Mahagathbandhan': Bihar Deputy CM

Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi alleged Wednesday that RJD chief Lalu Pras h met Union minister Arun Jaitley with offer to help bring down grand alliance government and install a saffron party dispensation if fodder scam cases against him were watered down.

dressing a press conference, Modi claimed Finance Minister Jaitley, however, snubbed Pras, who approached him through his emissary-- former Union minister Prem Chand Gupta-- and also met him in person.

Slamming Pras for "always spewing vem against BJP-RSS combine but never shying away from seeking our help whenever it serves his purpose", BJP leer said Jaitley curtly told m that CBI is an automous ncy in whose functioning government does t interfere.

Pras's son and Leer of Opposition in state assembly Tejashwi Yav rejected allegation, and said it reflected BJP's worry of an impending electoral defeat.

RE| Tejashwi Yav And Sushil Modi In Red-hot 'Who's Chor?' Spat, RJD Leer Raises Srijan Scam To Counter Bihar Deputy CM's 'chargesheeted At 29' Attack

"His allegations that we sought help from BJP at any point of time show his mental bankruptcy and worry of an impending defeat in elections. entire country kws that it was Lalu who h stopped (LK) vanis Ayodhya Rath Yatra and has always valiantly fought ir communal nda," he tweeted.

After ir dismal performance in 2014 Lok Sabha elections when a Narendra Modi wave swept country, Nitish Kumar's JD(U), RJD and Congress h formed a grand alliance and stopped BJP's juggernaut in Bihar in 2015 assembly polls.

three-party alliance was in power till July 2017 when Kumar returned to NDA following sharp differences with RJD over allegations of corruption against Tejashwi, who was n deputy chief minister.

Sushil Modi said Jharkhand High Court h passed an order in 2014 granting Pras some relief. court ordered that separate trials will t be held in six fodder scam cases against him.

"Separate trials meant more trouble for RJD supremo and, hence, he sent his emissary Prem Chand Gupta to Jaitley with his offer in exchange for CBI eir t appealing against High Court order or weakening its arguments before apex court once appeal was filed," Modi claimed.

Gupta, he claimed, met Jaitley three to four times, and when Pras realised that negotiations were "bearing fruit", he himself called on Union finance minister.

"Jaitley declined. It has always been BJPs line never to help those accused of corruption," Modi said.

On one hand, Pras was having an alliance with Nitish Kumar's JD(U) and on or he was approaching Jaitley with offer of helping finish off chief minister politically, Bihar deputy chief minister said.

WATCH: 'I Ask My Muslim Brors To Vote In Unison So That Congress Emerges Undefeated,' Says Navjot Singh Sidhu In His Second Communal Vote Appeal In Bihar Rally

"We think chief minister too must have got a whiff of se shenanigans. Moreover, after y toger won assembly polls in 2015 and RJD emerged as largest party, Lalu and his cohorts never lost an opportunity to remind JD(U) leer that he owed his position to m," he said.

Sushil Modi recalled how Lalu Pras won Patna University Students' Union polls in 1970s with help of ABVP, students wing of RSS. Modi, who was also associated with ABVP, said after being elected president of union, Pras visited local RSS office to thank Sangh.

"Besides, in 1990 he became chief minister only after he got a letter of support from our late leer Kailashpati Mishra. assembly polls h n thrown up a hung house and without support of 39 MLAs of our party, he would have never been what he became," BJP leer said.

Sushil Modi said he h learnt about meetings Pras himself and his emissary h with Jaitley from many sources, including Sanjay Jha, a former BJP hand and w a confidante of Nitish Kumar.

When reached for comments, Jha, a former MLC and w JD(U) national general secretary, said Pras h offered to pull down grand alliance government "within 24 hours".

"With se episodes you can make sense of hollow claims by Lalu's family members that y are being victimized because y did t compromise with BJP," Modi said.

se disclosures also deserve to be seen in light of many claims me by Pras's family in recent past, deputy chief minister said.

Lalu Pras's wife Rabri Devi and Tejashwi Yav h recently claimed that Nitish Kumar h grown uneasy with BJP "within six months" of returning to NDA in July, 2017, and h sent feelers through former poll strategist Prashant Kishor that he was game for a rapprochement with RJD but y spurned offer.