Nitish Demands Enquiry into Lalu's Abuse of Power
Patna: Oct. 29, 2007
The war of words between the NDA and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) continued on Monday as Chief Minister Nitish Kumar accused the RJD chief and Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav of abusing his ministerial power by using the special MR trains for his own political purposes.
Demanding a meeting of the National Development Council, Kumar asked the Prime Minister to initiate an investigation into Yadav's 'blatant abuse of power' and his utter disregard for a democratically-elected state government.
"Yadav bent railway rules to benefit himself. Fare were lowered to keep the expenses to a minimum and other trains were illegally stopped for the sole purpose of bringing hired support from various parts of Bihar. By doing so, Yadav has set a dangerous precedent and in future, other leaders in power would not hesitate in abusing their power as the Railway Minister did in organizing this rally," the Chief Minister said.
Taking a dig at the rally itself, Kumar said not only the RJD failed to fill even half of the Gandhi Maidan, even the people from his own Yadav community did not come out in his support.
"This is a warning to Lalu Prasad Yadav himself. For the second time in as many years, people of Bihar have rejected Lalu's failed leadership," Kumar said.
Janata Dal (U) national spokesperson also accused Yadav of throwing railway rules and norms out of the window.
"Because of Yadav's 'Chetawani Rally', the Railways incurred a loss of Rs. 1.20 crore and Yadav should prepare to give a full account of it," Tiwari said.
Meanwhile, the students' wing of the JD-U took out a protest march in Patna on Monday to protest against Lalu's alleged abuse of power and organizing vulgar dances on the streets of Patna.
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