Wary of sympathy wave, BJP challenges Tejashwi to move court if he feels CBI acting wrongfully against his parents

PTI

Patna, May 21

The BJP in Bihar on Saturday challenged RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav to move a court “with evidence” if he felt that the CBI was acting wrongfully against his parents Lalu Prasad and Rabri Devi.

A day after his parents’ residences in Delhi and Patna were raided by the central agency in connection with a fresh corruption case, the party also sought to remind Yadav that legal woes of Prasad had begun during the rule of a “friendly” Congress-led UPA at the Centre.

Yadav, who is the leader of the opposition in the state assembly, is away in London. Hearing about the fresh wrangle his parents have landed in, he has vented spleen on Twitter.

“Ay Hawa, jaakar tum Kah do dilli ke darbaron se, nahin Dara hai nahin darega Lalu in sarkaaron se” (go and tell the courtiers of Delhi, o winds. Lalu has not been and will never be scared of the powers that be”, the former Bihar deputy CM said on the microblogging site.

Although Yadav did not name any party, for the BJP he seemed to have touched a raw nerve.

“We understand that Lalu ji is old and ailing and wish him an early recovery but Tejashwi should remember his father’s woes began when a friendly UPA was in power,” said BJP spokesman and national general secretary of its OBC Morcha Nikhil Anand in a statement.

He underscored that the BJP, which was then in opposition, was instrumental in “exposing” the fodder scam in which Prasad, in his capacity as the then chief minister of Bihar, was named and accused and finally got convicted.

“But the first conviction which also led to disqualification of Lalu ji, happened in 2013 when the Congress was in power. Since then, the CBI has been acting in its capacity as an independent agency,” Anand asserted.

The BJP spokesman said that if Yadav still felt that the central agency was doing something unfair, “he must gather evidence and make his submissions before the court concerned. Hope he has not lost trust in the judiciary”.

The latest FIR lodged by the CBI, with regard to a railway recruitment scam, has come 13 years after Prasad’s tenure as railway minister ended.

RJD rank and file has been openly alleging that the latest CBI crackdown was “sponsored” by the BJP which rules the Centre.

The saffron party, which shares power with Prasad’s arch-rival Nitish Kumar, appears to be wary of “a sympathy wave” which could sway a section of voters in favour of the RJD, already on the upswing in Bihar.

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