Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader and Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav on Sunday slammed the BJP over the charge sheet filed against him in the land-for-jobs scam case. Mr. Yadav told journalists at the Patna airport that there was no merit in the case.
“This is not the first and last charge sheet against me. When we threw the BJP out of power in Bihar, we knew very well that something similar was going to happen. The BJP shell team has now become active. The first charge sheet was filed in 2017 and now in 2023. What were the Central agencies doing for the past six years? Whenever we have thrown out BJP, the charge sheets are filed and raids are conducted against us. The BJP misuses Central agencies but let me say there is no merit in the case,” Mr. Yadav said.
Ever since the charge sheet has been filed against Mr. Yadav, BJP leaders have been demanding his resignation. However, Mr. Yadav’s father and former Railway Minister Lalu Prasad had categorically said neither he nor his family members were afraid of cases lodged against them.
The CBI on July 3 filed a fresh charge sheet against Mr. Yadav, Mr. Prasad, and former Chief Minister Rabri Devi, and others in connection with the alleged land-for-jobs scam case.
Maharashtra example
Citing the Maharashtra example, Mr. Yadav said that for BJP some people were corrupt but now they had become Raja Harishchandra (considered the most truthful person) after joining that party. He alleged that a number of Nationalist Congress Party leaders who joined the BJP were facing serious corruption charges.
Mr. Yadav said nothing was going to happen in the case and he was not afraid of any charge sheet. He claimed that the charge sheet had been filed for the TRPs and news making so that the BJP could plot the conspiracy to malign opposition leaders.
“The more the BJP leaders will trouble us, the more our voters will get charged up and teach them a lesson in days to come,” Mr. Yadav said.
He also reacted to the recent war of words between Education Minister Chandra Shekhar and Additional Chief Secretary (ADS) of his department K.K. Pathak, which seems to have created differences in the Grand Alliance.
“Under the leadership of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, we are running a stable government and the Grand Alliance is intact. In fact, the Grand Alliance has been formed to save democracy and Constitution, which is in danger. We have already done one round of opposition meetings in Patna and another round will also take place. Seeing the opposition unity, there is fear among the BJP leaders and they are afraid of Lalu ji. Ahead of the Lok Sabha election, BJP-supported media is spreading the propaganda that all is not well in the Grand Alliance. The BJP is behind all this, because BJP stands for ‘Barka Jhoota Party’,” Mr. Yadav alleged.