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Bihar deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav on Monday rubbished the Enforcement Directorate's claim that "proceeds of crime amounting to Rs 600 crore were seized in raids last week and alleged that ED officials left his Delhi house only after getting a nod" "from above".
The Rashtriya Janata Dal leader was talking to reporters upon return from Delhi, where he had gone during Holi to spend time with septuagenarian father Lalu Prasad who is recuperating after a kidney transplant and wife Rajshree Yadav who is expecting the couple's first child.
"Thenga mila hai", scoffed Yadav using the Hindi slang to repudiate the ED's claim of huge recovery in the raids conducted in connection with the land for jobs scam pertaining to Prasad's tenure as railway minister during the United Progressive Aliance-1 government.
“Raids were also conducted on homes of my sisters who are not in politics and who got married after my father had ceased to be the Railway Minister. My sisters and their in-laws were made to take off the jewelery they were wearing. Photographs of the used ornaments were taken to buttress the ED's claim of having recovered a khazana (treasure)”, alleged the deputy CM.
The RJD leader squarely blamed the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party at the Center for the travails his family had to undergo and said “Union Home Minister Amit Shah is very fond of explaining chronology of events. People can take note of the chronology of central agency's action against me and my family”.
“It started in 2017 during my first stint in power when these agencies spoke of Rs 8,000 crore”, said Yadav referring to the land for hotels scam, adding “nothing came of that case. After we were back in power, raids were conducted on leaders of our party on the very day we proved our majority on the floor of the assembly”.
The young RJD leader claimed “the Mahagathbandhan rally in Purnea last month which attracted huge crowds, in contrast with Shah's lackluster public meeting elsewhere in the state on the same day, has enervated the BJP. They seem to have lost the courage to take on Tejashwi Yadav politically”.
“But we are not students of entire political science…… we have the guts and the moral strength (jigar aur zameer) to take on the BJP”, added Yadav who also reiterated that central agencies like CBI, ED and Income Tax Department were acting as per the "script" of the ruling party.
“Be it Shah or anyone else, the director of the farce must now change….. the agencies have come to cut a sorry figure. They roar for a few days and thereafter mew like a cat”, said Yadav, in an attempt at acerbic humor reminiscent of his legendary father.
“The raid at my house was over in 30 minutes. We thereafter served tea to the ED officials and inquired why they were not leaving. My wife needs care and is suffering from high blood pressure.They said they would leave only after they got a call from above. Clearly, the intent was to carry out a propaganda (war) against me”, alleged the Bihar deputy CM.
“In their politics of defaming opponents, the BJP seems to have made an Adani out of me”, quipped Yadav, adding “they already stand exposed in the matter relating to their allegations attacks on migrants in Tamil Nadu. I wonder if they have the moral strength to own up their mistake and apologize”.
Recalling an incident during the 2015 assembly elections in Bihar, he said “huge amount of unaccounted cash was recovered from the house of Union minister Giriraj Singh. No agency has ever probed the matter. Ditto for the recovery of Rs eight crore recently from a BJP leader in Karnataka”.