(From left) BJP leaders Ravi Shankar Prasad, M Venkaiah Naidu and Mangal Pandey at the news meet in Patna on Friday. Picture by Nagendra Kumar Singh

Senior BJP leader M. Venkaiah Naidu on Friday called for the setting up of fast-track courts to try politicians facing corruption charges.

“There should be fast-track courts to ensure speedy trial of politicians involved in criminal conspiracy cases, and the CBI should be insulated from interference,” Naidu said at a press meet on Friday. The CBI court sentence on Lalu Prasad and Jagannath Mishra was expected, he said, adding, justice was delayed, but not denied.

He, however, said the fodder scam was small when compared to 2G, coal allocation, CWG, and other scams and wondered why the Centre and the CBI were not acting against those involved in the big scams.

Naidu was in Patna to oversee the October 27 Hunkar Rally to be attended by Gujarat chief minister and BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi. On the occasion, the state BJP launched a new Bihar BJP website, complete with pictures of Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi, with focus on the Hunkar Rally.

Naidu asked BJP workers to mobilise 10 persons from each booth for the rallies and directed BJP leaders to undertake door-to-door campaigns.

Asked if the BJP would go for an alliance with the TDP in 2014, he said the TDP has not approached the BJP but the final outcome would emerge after the 2014 elections. “There is a huge current in support of Narendra Modi. Only development and not secularism will be the main issue in elections.” Besides, he said, the BJP did not need a certificate on secularism from the Congress, JD(U) or any party.

Naidu hailed President Pranab Mukherjee’s statement in Belgium that the terror infrastructure in Pakistan needs to be dismantled.

The former BJP chief held discussions with BJP leaders like Ravi Shankar Prasad, Rajeev Pratap Rudy, Sushil Kumar Modi and Mangal Pandey on preparations for the Hunkar Rally and the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. The BJP has constituted 20 sub-committees like mass rally committees, election manifesto committees, Friends of the BJP committee among others.

The mass rally committees would organise 100 rallies, including at Gaya and Purnea, after the Hunkar Rally on October 27 .