Bihar's Grand Alliance in trouble, Nitish calls JDU meet on CBI raids at Lalu's premises

With Nitish Kumar back in Patna, now all eyes are on him to see when he will break his silence over the CBI raids on RJD chief Lalu Prasad and his family. PTI IMAGE

PATNA: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has called a meeting of his party on Tuesday on how to tackle events that are unfolding in state's politics. The Janata Dal-United has yet to say a word on the CBI raids on Lalu Prasad, whose RJD is partner of the ruling Grand Alliance. It is expected that the JD-U will react as per directives of Nitish Kumar, the JD-U President. The BJP has demanded the sacking of RJD chief Lalu Prasad's two minister sons - Tejashwi Prasad Yadav and Tej Pratap Yadav from the Bihar cabinet in the wake of CBI lodging an FIR against them. Nitish Kumar has been heading the ruling Grand Alliance of JD-U, RJD and Congress government in Bihar. After spending three days in Rajgir, away from the Bihar capital where the political climate has heated up, Nitish returned to his official residence in Patna "Nitish Kumar is back in Patna after spending three days in Rajgir in Nalanda district," an official of the Chief Minister's Office here said. With Nitish Kumar back in Patna, now all eyes are on him to see when he will break his silence over the CBI raids on RJD chief Lalu Prasad and his family. So far Nitish Kumar, who is also president of JD-U, has maintained a studied silence on the CBI raids on Lalu Prasad. "He may break his silence soon," a JD-U leader considered close to Nitish Kumar said. According to JD-U leaders, during his stay in Rajgir, about 100 km from here, Nitish Kumar visited different tourist places. "On Saturday Nitish Kumar visited Ghora Katora and on Friday he visited another tourist place," a party official said. It is expected that the JD-U will react to the incident as per directives of Nitish Kumar. JD-U spokespersons are also keeping a distance from the media and have not reacted to the raids. "JD-U spokespersons are following instructions from Nitish Kumar and not saying anything on the issue," the party official said. The CBI on Friday carried out raids at 12 places in Patna, Delhi, Ranchi, Puri and Gurugram in connection with the case involving Lalu Prasad and his family members. The CBI has registered the case against Lalu Prasad, his wife and former Chief Minister Rabri Devi, Tejashwi Yadav, former Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) Managing Director P.K. Goyal, and Lalu Prasad's confidante Prem Chand Gupta's wife on allegations of awarding the tender for development, maintenance and operation of hotels in Ranchi and Puri in 2006. In the same year, the hotels were transferred to the IRCTC. Lalu Prasad was the Railways Minister between 2004-09. (With inputs from IANS)