RJD cries foul as ED raids premises of Lalu's kin and close aides

The Rashtriya Janta Dal on Friday flew off the handle over raids conducted by the Enforcement Directorate on premises owned by family members and close aides of the party's national president Lalu Prasad.

Leaders of the RJD alleged that the BJP, which rules the Centre and has an axe to grind against the ruling 'Mahagathbandhan' in Bihar, was providing agencies like CBI, ED and the Income Tax Department with “scripts” to settle scores with political opponents.

Read | CBI questions Lalu Prasad in land-for-jobs scam case

Senior RJD leader and former assembly Speaker Uday Narayan Chaudhary said, "Only a few days ago did the CBI visit Rabri Devi (Prasad's wife and ex-CM) here and our national president in Delhi for questioning. I wonder why these central agencies never act against BJP leaders suspected of corruption”.

Rajya Sabha MP and RJD national spokesman Manoj Kumar Jha said the BJP should fight its political opponents politically and "stop this game of raids".

"The central agencies have become a butt of ridicule," he said.

The RJD leader claimed that the BJP is "not able to shake off the trauma of having lost power in Bihar" in August last year.

"Some pliable officials in central agencies, who might be wanting some plum post-retirement assignments, seem to have fed the idea into the BJP's minds that they can destabilise the 'Mahagathbandhan'," Jha alleged.

“But the BJP must know that the 'Mahagathbandhan' is very strong. Moreover, it must remember that it will not be in power forever. A different regime may, in future, think of doing to BJP what it is doing to its opponents. The party must realise that and stop asking agencies to follow its scripts," he added.

The Enforcement (ED) Friday conducted searches in multiple cities of Bihar in connection with a money laundering investigation into the "land for jobs scam" case in which Prasad and his wife Rabri Devi were questioned recently by the CBI.

The alleged scam pertains to the period when Prasad was the railway minister in the UPA-1 government.

Among those whose premises have been raided include Prasad's daughters Rohini and Hema besides the in-laws of his younger son and heir apparent Tejashwi Yadav, who is also the Bihar deputy CM.

In Patna, raids were conducted at the Haroon Nagar residence and the S P Verma Road house of Abu Dojana, a former RJD MLA, who has often been accused of being a "conduit for the party supremo's benami transactions".

Dojana briefly appeared on a balcony of his palatial house to declare to media persons waiting outside that “I don't know what these people are trying to search at my place. I only know this much that we are paying the price for not cowing down before the BJP”.

The CPI(ML) Liberation, which supports the 'Mahagathbandhan' government from the outside, also came out with a statement echoing the RJD's sentiments.

"The raids are undoubtedly an example of the political vendetta of the BJP, which has been trying to destabilise the new government in Bihar since its formation. So many times have central agencies raided and grilled Lalu Prasad, his family members and close aides. But nothing has been found," state secretary of CPI(ML)-L Kunal said in the statement.

Even the rumours of attacks on migrants in Tamil Nadu were a "handiwork of the BJP, which cannot tolerate its opponents being in power", he alleged.

Meanwhile, BJP spokesperson Prem Ranjan Patel rubbished the allegations of political vendetta and cited the examples of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik, BSP supremo Mayawati and leaders of the Akali Dal in Punjab to assert “not all opposed to us face the wrath of central agencies. Only those guilty of wrongdoing face the music”.

Patel also sought to drive a wedge between Kumar, a former BJP ally, and other constituents of the 'Mahagathbandhan' which includes Congress and the Left.

He hailed the JD(U) leader for “not allowing a blemish on his own reputation for probity in public life by refusing to sign” the letter recently sent to Prime Minister Narendra Modi by a number of opposition parties in protest against the CBI action against Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia.