Picture : Twitter/ ANI
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar hinted that he agreed with the contention of ally RJD that the recent crackdown on its president Lalu Prasad and his family members by the CBI and ED was “politically motivated”.
This was in contrast to the stand he took in 2017, when he had wanted the ally to come clean on charges of corruption.
As per PTI report, The JD(U) leader also rubbished speculations that he was maintaining an eloquent silence on the issue because of anxieties about tarnishing his own image for probity by aligning with “tainted” politicians and could even be thinking of breaking away with the “Mahagathbandhan”, which besides RJD, also includes Congress and the Left.
Kumar was approached with queries by journalists who wanted to know about his views on the questioning of Lalu Prasad and his wife Rabri Devi by CBI earlier this week, followed by raids conducted on a number of premises, including houses of his three daughters and a daughter in law by ED on Friday and a fresh summons issued by the CBI to younger son and Bihar Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav.
In a video statement, RJD Rajya Sabha MP Manoj Kumar Jha warned that people of Bihar will take to the streets upon learning that Yadav’s “pregnant wife was taken ill with high blood pressure” because of the ED raids at her house that “continued till 4 am today”.
“What do I have to say, those who are at the receiving end are giving an adequate response,” said Kumar in his trademark enigmatic style, before adding, “similar things had happened in 2017 when I was on this side (in the anti-BJP camp). Now that I am here again, these things are happening again.” The allusion was to the land for hotels case in which the ED had named, along with others, Yadav, who was the Deputy CM then as well, and Kumar recalled having asked the young RJD leader to “explain” his side of the story and the BJP having exploited the situation to its advantage.
