Patna,(BiharTimes): Former deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi on Friday charged that subsidised government land was allotted by the Bihar government to Janata Dal (United) leader and film maker, Prakash Jha, for building shopping malls.

Defending the BJP president Amit Shah’s claim that shopping malls were built on the land of closed sugar mills he asked Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar as to how malls came up on BIADA (Bihar Industrial Area Development Authority) land in Patna, Muzaffarpur and Hajipur. SuMo now claims that during the NDA rule, the BJP, which was a partner, had protested allotment of BIADA land to Prakash
Jha for opening shopping malls in Patna, Muzaffarpur and Hajipur.

He clarified that since the industries department was with JD (U) the state government went ahead and alloted land to him on instruction of Nitish Kumar. The BJP leader in the Legislative Council said that in many places, BIADA land, which was actually meant for setting up manufacturing units, had been allotted for opening of colleges and other institutions.Stating that even the Accountant General (AG) had in its report pointed to this anomaly he said the Supreme Court was still dealing with a few cases related to allotment of subsidised BIADA land to ministers and officials in the Nitish Kumar regime.

However, political observers are of the view that it is difficult to accept the version of the BJP now as it was a part of the Nitish government when all these important decisions were taken. After all these malls have come up several years back, that is during NDA-I. The BJP remained silent on the issue though it has been out of power since June 16, 2013.