New Delhi: Former Chief Minister of Bihar and the present president of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) political party Lalu Prasad Yadav on Sunday pleaded innocence in the soil scam.
"It is an effort to malign image of me and my family", he said in a press conference and added that all allegations against him are "baseless".
He further alleged that attempts are being made to destroy his image among the masses.
It may be recalled that recently, senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi had urged Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to set up an all-party committee to probe the 'soil purchase scam' in which, he alleged, minister Tej Pratap Yadav was involved.
"Since the RJD supremo is open to probe by any agency, the Chief Minister should set up an all-party committee to probe the alleged 'soil purchase scam' without any delay," Modi said in a statement.
Modi had charged Environment and Forest Minister Tej Pratap Yadav of RJD with giving contract of Rs 90 lakh to a company for earth filling work in Sanjay Gandhi Biological Park or Patna zoo without tender and demanded his ouster from the cabinet.
While Yadav threatened to file defamation case against Modi, his father RJD chief Lalu Prasad said his family was ready to face investigation by any agency.
All documents related to the alleged scam should be sealed as those papers might be tampered with by the accused, Modi said.
On the zoo authorities' contention that the soil purchased for the work was not bought from the under-construction mall owned by the RJD supremo's family as claimed by Modi, the BJP leader asked for testing of the soils from both the spots to ascertain whether it was same or not.
Modi alleged that RJD chief Prasad had a habit of brushing aside scams that took place during the RJD rule including fodder scam in which Prasad was convicted four years ago.
BJP leader and Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Prem Kumar also demanded a probe into the soil purchase case. On the other hand, Lalu Prasad's other son and Deputy Chief Minister Tejaswi Yadav termed Modi a "propagandist' for the his "baseless accusation".
He also charged the media with indulging in "character assassination" of his brother without verifying facts. Senior RJD leader and minister Abdul Bari Siddiqui defended and JD(U) chief state spokesman Sanjay Singh also hit out at Modi for making "baseless statements."
Meanwhile, television channels today were busy capturing a truck carrying cow dung from Lalu Prasad's wife Rabri Devi's 10 Circular Road residence.
The RJD chief had said his family has been providing cow dung to the Patna zoo free for the past
one-and-a-half years for its use.