Tejashwi Yadav slams BJP over ED probe, says it is a political vendetta

Patna: After the Enforcement Directorate (ED) started questioning Lalu Prasad Yadav and his family members in the alleged land-for-job scam, the leader of the opposition, Tejashwi Yadav, has stated that such moves by central agencies would not rattle them.

“As elections are scheduled this year, ED, CBI, and Income Tax will do their exercise, but it won’t affect us. The central government wants to harass us, but they won’t succeed. We have been questioned multiple times, but what happened? Nothing!” he said while speaking to media persons in Patna on Wednesday.

Tejashwi alleged that cases against Lalu Prasad, Rabri Devi, and himself were part of a political conspiracy.

“Had we not been in politics, would there be any case against us? This is all politically motivated. BJP is afraid of us, they know they will lose the Bihar Assembly elections, so they are misusing central agencies,” he said.

Tejashwi Yadav showed confidence in winning the Bihar Assembly election 2025, stating, “We will form the next government in Bihar.”

With Bihar politics heating up, the ED’s questioning of Lalu Prasad Yadav on Wednesday is expected to further escalate tensions between the RJD and the BJP-led NDA in the state.

Lalu Prasad Yadav along with his daughter Misa Bharti arrived at the Patna ED office earlier on Wednesday in a money laundering case linked to an alleged land-for-job scam.

On Tuesday, ED had questioned former CM Rabri Devi and Tej Pratap Yadav for four and a half hours separately.

Reacting to the back-to-back robbery incidents in Ara and Patna, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav launched a scathing attack on Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, accusing him of failing to control crime in Bihar.

“In 20 years of Nitish Kumar’s rule, Bihar has witnessed 60,000 murders and 25,000 rapes and gang rapes in Bihar and this is not my data; this is National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data, which comes under the Union Home Ministry,” Yadav said.

“Criminals are roaming freely, creating havoc, while Nitish Kumar is in an unconscious state,” he said.

The robbery in Patna’s Kankarbagh area, where Rs 1 crore was looted in broad daylight on Tuesday, has raised serious law and order concerns. Tejashwi Yadav has repeatedly blamed Nitish Kumar and the NDA government for their alleged failure to ensure public safety.

IANS