'Lalu was not scared and will not be scared from these governments': Tejashwi Yadav 

PATNA: Leader of Opposition in Bihar assembly Tejashwi Prasad Yadav launched a blistering attack on the Narendra Modi government following raids at the residential premises of his father and RJD chief Lalu Prasad, his mother Rabri Devi and eldest sister Misa Bharti in connection with 'land for job' scam in the railway. 

Taking to his official Twitter account to put a brave face following raids, Tejashwi said, “The path of truth and fact is the path of fire and it is difficult but not impossible to move on this path. It may be delayed but only the truth emerges victorious.”

“We are fighting and winning. Will continue to fight and will continue to win. Let the wind tell Delhi Durbars, Lalu was not scared and will not be scared from these governments,” he remarked.

The CBI on Friday carried out simultaneous searches at the residential premises of former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad and his wife Rabri Devi in Patna and Gopalganj in Bihar and also at the residence of Misa Bharti, a Rajya Sabha member, in New Delhi.

The raids were conducted when Tejashwi has gone to London with his wife to deliver his speech at a function. The CBI operation may define political equations in Bihar when corruption charges returned to haunt the RJD first family.

In 2017, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar had walked out of the grand alliance when his deputy and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav (son of Lalu Prasad) did not explain his corruption charges levelled against him.
Now, it will be interesting to see whether Nitish seeks to distance himself from RJD particularly Tejashwi when corruption charges once again have started casting a shadow on the Lalu family.

Meanwhile, RJD leaders claimed that the CBI raids were carried out at Lalu's premises in view of recent bonhomie between Nitish and Tejashwi.  RJD MLC Sunil Kumar Singh said that the CBI raids might have taken place due to growing camaraderie between chief minister Nitish Kumar and leader of opposition Tejashwi Yadav, particularly on the caste census.

“Whether CBI raids were not a warning to Nitish as BJP was uncomfortable with growing proximity between Nitish and Tejashwi,” asked senior politician Shivanand Tiwari, who as a JD (U) leader along with another party leader Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh had submitted a memorandum to the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the land for job scam.

Interestingly, Shivanand is currently in RJD and is also considered a close aide of Lalu. The timing of raids was hinting at it, Tiwari added. JD (U) leaders, however, were cautious in their comments as senior minister Ashok Choudhary said that transparency was not maintained in the recruitment in the railways and corruption had also taken place. CBI might have got some evidence and so raids were being conducted after filing a fresh case.

‘It is absolutely wrong to link CBI raids with recent meetings between CM and Tejashwi,” the minister asserted. Senior BJP leader and former deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi said Lalu procured land from people in lieu of giving them jobs in the railway. First, the beneficiary family registered land in the name of somebody else name and subsequently, that person gifted the land to Lalu, he elaborated.