Nitish govt misusing old phone number to defame Tejashwi Yadav: RJD

With its leaders Tejashwi and Tej Pratap Yadav facing murder charges, the RJD accused Bihar CM Nitish Kumar and Dy CM Sushil Kumar Modi of engaging in a criminal conspiracy against Tejashwi Yadav

With its top party leaders Tejashwi Yadav and Tej Pratap Yadav facing murder charges, the RJD on Monday accused Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi of engaging in a criminal conspiracy against Tejashwi Yadav.

Rashtriya Janata Dal's Rajya Sabha member Manoj Jha cited a phone number which was allegedly used to demand money from aspiring party candidates for allotment of ticket in the coming Assembly elections but was not registered with anyone as per the state-run telecom company.

"The phone number 0612-2217222 belongs to Patna circle of BSNL, and was used by unknown persons for random calls to aspiring candidates of the RJD. Interestingly, when you call back on it, the name of Tejashwi Yadav emerge on Truecaller," he told media persons here.

Jha said that this phone number was registered in the name of former Chief Minister Rabri Devi but it was disconnected on November 21, 2016. After this, it was allotted to the Forest Department office in Patna, but they also gave it up on March 18, 2019 and as per enquiries with BSNL, it has not been registered with anyone since then.

"On September 19, a missed call from this number went to a RJD aspirant in Sitamarhi. Since, Tejashwi Yadav's name emerged on Truecaller, when he called back on that number, he was instructed to come to Patna with Rs 25 lakh via Lalganj town to get ticket. Another candidate of Muzaffarpur was also approached in a similar fashion. I have a long list of calls which were made from it to demand money from candidates," he said, waving a bunch of documents.

"If that phone number is not registered with any person, then who is misusing it in the name of Tejashwi Yadav? I firmly believes that a conspiracy of such magnitude cannot be possible without the connivance of the ruling party. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi and their close ministers are involved in a conspiracy against Tejashwi Yadav to win this election," he added.

Jha also hit out at BSNL for allowing this conspiracy to take place, saying that it has put a question mark on reputation of the institution.

Noting Tejashwi Yadav has raised questions on unemployment, migrant labour, flood situation, law and order, crime against women and the '10 lakh jobs' promise, he alleged that the ruling party leaders have no answer to those points. "Hence, CM Nitish Kumar, Sushil Kumar Modi and other leaders of NDA are taken the politics of Bihar to such a low standard. They are using the conspiracy method to win this election," Jha said, demanding a fair investigation into the matter.

Taking a dig at the Bihar Police, he said that its former DGP "used the government post to build his own political career". "It is enough to understand how Bihar Police is working under Nitish Kumar," he said.

"Does the ruling party have any answer on whether the decisions taken by ex-DGP Gupteshwar Pandey during his tenure were fair?" he asked.

Tejashwi Yadav and Tej Pratap Yadav are embroiled in controversy after RJD's Dalit leader Shakti Malik was murdered by three unidentified men in the state's Purnea district on Sunday. Malik's wife has alleged that Tejashwi Yadav demanded Rs 50 lakh for ticket, and when her husband was unable to give money, Tejashwi abused him. She also levelled murder charges on him and Tej Pratap Yadav.

--IANS

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