RJD's Lalu Yadav asked me to abstain from Speaker's election, says BJP MLA Lalan Paswan

Patna (Bihar) [ India], November 25 (ANI): Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Lalan Paswan on Wednesday alleged that Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief, Lalu Prasad Yadav had offered to make him a minister if he abstained from the Speaker's election in the Bihar assembly.
The MLA's remarks came after purported audio of Lalu Prasad Yadav surfaced in which he can be heard asking Paswan to remain absent from the Bihar Assembly during the election of Speaker.
While talking to ANI, BJP leader said, "I got a call from Lalu ji, which was received by my personnel secretary. I thought he had called to congratulate me. He then started saying the don't support the Speaker. He said I'll be made a minister. I told him that I can't do it, I am a member of the party and cannot do it "
When the BJP MLA replies: "We are in a party", the voice purportedly of Lalu Yadav says in Hindi, "Be absent... Say you got corona)". The voice apparently of the RJD leader later says in Hindi, "If you support us and we have our Speaker, then we can do things for you."
The audio clip surfaced ahead of the election to the Bihar Assembly Speaker's post, which was held on Wednesday. National Democratic Alliance's Vijay Kumar Sinha was elected as Speaker of Bihar assembly by majority vote.
Responding to the alleged audio, RJD Bhai Virendra hit out at former deputy chief minister, Sushil Modi. and said that he is now unemployed and levelling false accusation. He wants to get into good books by levelling such allegations so that he can get a 'job'. There are many who can mimic Lalu Yadav's voice.
Sushil Kumar Modi on Tuesday on his Twitter handle posted: "Lalu Yadav making telephone call (8051216302) from Ranchi to NDA MLAs and promising ministerial berths. When I telephoned, Lalu directly picked up. I said don't do (sic) these dirty tricks from jail, you will not succeed."
Congress leader Shakeel Ahmed Khan said, "BJP has a history of lying, we can't trust their words."
However, Janata Dal-United (JDU) MLA Shravan Kumar said, "I have no knowledge of Lalu Yadav's viral audio clip."
Sanjay Jaiswal, BJP State President said, "Lalu Yadav tried to derail the democratic process from the jail and using the residence of Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) director. This is highly condemnable. High Court should take Sou Moto cognizance and send him to Tihar jail as in Ranchi they have their government. RJD is making fun of democracy."
The former chief minister of the state, Lalu Prasad Yadav is a convict in the fodder scam cases and currently admitted to the RIMS hospital in Jharkhand's Ranchi. He was lodged at the Hotwar Central Jail after being sentenced by a special court of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
In the recently concluded Assembly election, NDA has secured a majority with 125-seats in the 243-seat strong Bihar Legislative Assembly of which BJP won on 74 seats, Janata Dal (United) on 43 while eight seats were won by two other NDA constituents. The RJD, on the other hand, emerged as the single-largest party with 75 seats while the Congress only won 19 of the 70 seats it had contested. (ANI)