Lalu Yadav, Tejashwi, summoned by ED, may miss Rahul’s Jan 30 Purnia rally

PATNA: The Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra will enter Bihar’s Kishanganj district from Siliguri on January 29 and cover four districts in three days, a senior Bihar Congress leader said on Monday.

Congress lawmaker Prem Chandra Mishra said Gandhi will address a massive rally in Purnia on January 30 and has invited leaders of Bihar’s ruling alliance to join him at the event.

Mishra said chief minister Nitish Kumar has conveyed that either he or a senior Janata Dal (United) party leader would join the rally. Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad and deputy chief minister Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, however, may not be able to join the rally because it clashes with the Enforcement Directorate (ED) summons issued to them, Mishra, a member of the legislative council, said.

ED has summoned Lalu Prasad and Tejashwi to its Patna office to appear for questioning at its Patna office in connection with the alleged railways land-for-jobs money laundering case on January 29 and 30. The case, first lodged by the CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation), relates to allegations that during his stint as railway minister from 2004-09, Lalu Yadav gave away railway jobs in lieu of plots of land either gifted for sold at throwaway prices by the beneficiaries to his family members.

Mishra claimed that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leadership was rattled by the public response to the yatra and was creating hurdles for the yatra in Assam where Gandhi was not allowed to visit the birthplace of Vaishnava saint Srimanta Sankaradev in Assam.

“Whenever the Yatra passes through a BJP-ruled state, hurdles are put in its way. We are going to stage a march in Patna, wearing black badges, to register our protest”, Mishra added.