PATNA: Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) president Lalu Prasad on Wednesday said he was not intimidated by cases being piled against him and his close family members, as he accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of using the ploy of framing cases against political rivals to harass them.
The remarks came two days after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed a fresh charge sheet against the RJD chief, his wife and former chief minister Rabri Devi, son and Bihar deputy chief minister Tejashwi Prasad Yadav and others 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.
In a scathing attack on the prime minister, Prasad (75) said the “oppressive tactics” against political rivals will not last long.
“What will happen to you (PM Modi) when you will not be in power? Cases may be filed against you, too,” Prasad said, while addressing party workers in Patna during an event to mark RJD’s 27th foundation day. “I don’t get intimidated by cases against me. Such oppressive tactics will not last long. We will oust you from power.”
Exhorting party members to work unitedly, Prasad also hailed the Opposition unity efforts of Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, and vowed to “root out” the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
{{/usCountry}}Exhorting party members to work unitedly, Prasad also hailed the Opposition unity efforts of Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, and vowed to “root out” the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
{{/usCountry}}“The next [Opposition] meeting is in Bengaluru. We will go there,” he said. “The opposition parties will unite to fight the next elections in a combined way.”
In an oblique reference to the recent split in the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in Maharashtra, the RJD chief accused the BJP and Modi of indulging in horse-trading to form governments.
Senior NCP leader Ajit Pawar, along with eight party legislators, joined the BJP-Shiv Sena coalition government in the western state on Sunday, vertically splitting the 24-year-old party.
“Bihar’s grand alliance has been a shining example of opposition unity. We must remain steadfast in our fight against communalism…,” Prasad added.
Recalling the formation of the RJD on July 5, 1997 as an offshoot of the erstwhile Janata Dal, Prasad said the party has come a long way in the last 27 years and “worked steadfastly to uphold the values of secularism, democratic values and social justice by following the ideals and principles of socialist Lok Nayak Jay Prakash Narayan”.
“It was Ramakrishna Hegde (former Karnataka CM) who had suggested to me the name of our party. We have come a long way and we must pledge not to compromise on our ideals,” Prasad told party workers.
The CBI case against the RJD chief and his family pertains to alleged allotment of jobs in the railways in lieu of land from beneficiaries during Prasad’s tenure as the railway minister between 2004 and 2009.
Following the CBI’s fresh charge sheet before a Delhi court on Monday, the opposition BJP in Bihar has mounted pressure on CM Nitish Kumar, demanding resignation of his deputy Tejashwi Yadav in it.
Reacting on Prasad’s accusations against PM Modi of trying to harass political rivals by piling cases against them, BJP state president Samrat Choudhary said the former railway minister had been a victim of conspiracy hatched by how own political colleagues who are top leaders in ruling JD(U) and RJD.
“ It was JD(U) national president Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh and RJD national vice president Shivanand Tiwary who had made expose of the land for job scam and had asked CBI to probe. The CBI is carrying the action based on the exposes of these leaders, who are now colleagues of the RJD chief. He is a victim of the conspiracy of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his associates, with whom he is now part of the grand alliance, “ Choudhary said.
The BJP state president also highlighted that the RJD chief had faced CBI action and gone to jail in fodder scam case despite being close to former Prime Ministers, Deve Gowda and Inder Kumar Gujral in 1996 and 1997. “ Yes, the RJD chief should not be scared of cases piled against him because it is his own close associates and colleagues who have always betrayed him and sent him to jail,” Choudhary said.