As BJP steps up campaign against Tejashwi, Nitish Kumar signals his stand

CBI filed a charge sheet against Lalu Prasad Yadav and his son Tejashwi Yadav in connection with the land-for-jobs scam, which dates back to 2004-09 when Lalu Prasad was railway minister

PATNA: Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar arrived at the Bihar assembly on Monday with his deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav and environment minister Tej Pratap Singh, a gesture that his party leader said was designed to send a clear message that the Janata Dal-United alliance with the Rashtriya Janata Dal led by Lalu Prasad Yadav was intact and strong.

Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar along with Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav on the first day of the monsoon session of Bihar Assembly, in Patna on Monday (PTI)

The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been demanding that Nitish Kumar sack Tejashwi Yadav and end the grand alliance with his father Lalu Prasad after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed a charge sheet against both of them in connection with the land-for-jobs scam, which dates back to 2004-09 when Lalu Prasad was the railway minister in the UPA-1 government.

A JD-U leader said Nitish Kumar’s move to travel to the assembly in one vehicle with Tejashwi and Tej Pratap Yadav signals his firm rejection of the BJP demand. As the monsoon session got underway, the BJP also messaged that it would not back down.

BJP chief whip Janak Singh led the party’s offensive as soon as speaker Awadh Bihar Choudhary ended his opening speech, underlining that the presence of a “charge sheeted minister” in the House was not good. Choudhary objected to the veteran BJP leader speaking without his permission and asked that the assembly stick to the listed agenda. But BJP lawmakers continued to shout slogans to demand the sacking of a “charge sheeted deputy chief minister”.

Amid the din, finance minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary tabled the first supplementary budget of 2023-24 for ₹43774.75-crore before the assembly was adjourned for the day due to the disruptions.

The BJP continued its campaign against Tejashwi Yadav outside.

Leader of Opposition in the assembly Vijay Kumar Sinha told reporters that the BJP will continue to raise the issue of corruption and the presence of a charge-sheeted minister.

“It is the same chief minister who sought resignation from several ministers of his own party and alliance partners at the mere lodging of FIR, but had now compromised with corruption. We want the CM’s reply on the circumstances that have made him compromise and the utter disregard to his own ‘zero tolerance to corruption’ policy,” said Sinha.

Sinha said in the past, Nitish Kumar forced former CM Jitan Ram Manjhi, JD-U’s RN Singh and Manju Verma, RJD’s Kartikey Singh to resign as soon as their names figured in FIR or charge sheet.

“Last time. (2017) he also severed ties with the RJD after Tejashwi’s name figured in the FIR. But now, he is okay with corruption. We had also raised the issue of another minister Israel Mansuri during the last session, but Nitish Kumar turned a blind eye to that also. For us, corruption is a big issue and we will continue to raise it in the House as well as outside,” he added.

Tejashwi Yadav’s mother and former chief minister Rabri Devi rubbished the Opposition’s demand, pointing out that this was not the first charge sheet in the case by the agency. Besides, she underlined, that the BJP used central agencies to target opposition leaders. “Anybody speaking against them becomes their target and there will be a charge sheet. All federal agencies are used to silence the Opposition. The fact is that Narendra Modi has done nothing… He has just looted public money to build party offices. BJP is more corrupt,” she told reporters outside the legislative council.

The charge sheet filed is CBI’s second in the case and the first to name Tejashwi. Earlier, a charge sheet was filed in October 2022 against 16 people, including Lalu, Rabri and their daughter Misa Bharti.

The charge sheet alleges that the railways first appointed people as substitutes in Group-D jobs during 2004-09 and then regularised their appointment in violation of recruitment norms and procedures of the Indian Railways. The candidates, directly or through their immediate family members, allegedly sold land to the family members of Lalu Prasad at discounted rates of up to one-fourth to one-fifth of prevailing market rates.

On Sunday, Tejashwi Yadav also rejected the BJP’s demand for his resignation on Sunday, saying “Whenever we defeat the BJP in Bihar and make them run, they take recourse to chargesheet and raids by misusing federal agencies. This is an old game of the BJP. It does not make any difference to us”.