Janjivan Bureau / Patna: The CBI raids on Lalu Prasad Yadav and his family were being carried out at the instance of a “vengeful” Centre out to muzzle the opposition’s voice, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) said today.
RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav has denied wrongdoing after the CBI booked him, wife Rabri Devi and son Tejaswi Yadav for alleged corruption in awarding of an IRCTC contract in 2006 when he was the railway minister.
Nitish Kumar goes into crisis mode – calls DGP, Home Secretary, Chief Secretary, party spokespersons among other MLAs and senior officials to Rajgir.
“CBI raids are being conducted just to humiliate me. BJP wants to play monopoly in India. If someone speaks he will be harassed like this. The CBI is doing what Narendra Modi is telling them to do” Lalu Prasad Yadav said.
He also said Delhi Yatri Niwas was in a very bad condition. It was taken over by the TATAs from IRCTC. These were purely open tenders. If I am shown one proof against me, I am ready to do anything.
Before I took over as Rail Minister, NDA had taken some decisions like making IRCTC an autonomous body. In 2006, tenders had to be taken over some hotels which were in dying condition. It was an open tender. This was a 15 year lease and not absolute sale Lalu said.
“In 2002 IRCTC started functioning. It was in 2003 that IRCTC started working on hotels like the one in Puri, which was handed over to it. I took over as Rail Minister in 2004. All this handover was done before that under the NDA rule” Lalu Prasad Yadav quoted.
Lalu said to media person that the BJP is preparing for 2019 and they feel threatened by me. I am always available to the CBI. I will get Modi removed even if I perish. IRCTC railways is an autonomous body, its hotels were in a bad condition. IRCTC was launched in 1999 I was not the Rail Minister then.
“I am used to facing the CBI. All my youth has gone into facing the CBI. We are used to facing the CBI. I talk about the poor and the youth so they frame me. Lalu will not break like this” Lalu Prasad Yadav.
“I have called my wife and son. I told them to cooperate with whatever the CBI wants. Whatever documents the CBI wants, give it to them I told my son and wife. I have told them to respect the CBI officials and let them conduct their searches. Narendra Modi and Amit Shah are behinf these CBI raids. We don’t even know what case they are taking about” Lalu Prasad Yadav.
As the RJD hit out at the Centre, the police tightened security outside the BJP office fearing trouble.
A general alert has been sounded across the state following the raids, which started at 7 am in 12 locations in Patna, Ranchi, Bhubaneswar and Gurgaon, Additional Director General (Headquarters) S K Singhal said.
The Centre began tightening its noose around Lalu Prasad ever since he “announced a massive ‘Desh bachao, Bhajpa hatao rally’ on August 27 in Patna”, RJD’s Bihar unit president Ramchandra Purbey said.
“The CBI’s action is being carried out at the instance of the central government… This is the Centre’s vengeful action which is targeted against those who speak for protecting democratic values,” Purbey said.
The RJD’s proposed rally on August 27 in Patna would take place as scheduled, he added.
His colleague, RJD’s Bihar unit chief spokesman Shakti Singh Yadav, echoed him and said the CBI action was “brazen misuse” of central agencies by the Central government against opposition parties.
The CBI team raided Rabri Devi’s 10 Circular Road residence in Patna in the morning, part of the searches in connection with a corruption case. It is alleged that Yadav as railway minister handed over the maintenance of two railway hotels to a company after receiving a bribe in the form of prime land of three acres through a benami company
Lalu Prasad is away in Ranchi for appearance in a CBI court in connection with a case related to the multi-crore fodder scam.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, whose JD(U) is in alliance with the RJD, is also out of Patna.
The CM left for Rajgir yesterday for “health reasons”.
Chief Secretary Anjani Kumar Singh and state police chief P K Thakur have been summoned to Rajgir.
Senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi has questioned Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s silence on CBI raids.
Asked about the enhanced security arrangements, state BJP President Nityanand Rai said the administration might have done it considering the violent activities of RJD workers in the past after action against their leader in other cases.
The truth about Lalu Prasad Yadav is out. Nitish Kumar has to now decide if he really is against corruption. He has been talking about zero tolerance against corruption but the Deputy CM has been involved in corrupt activites. Nitish Kumar has to pick a side: BJP leader Giriraj Singh.
