New Delhi: RJD vice-president Shivanand Tiwari alleged that the BJP has become restless on seeing the closeness of Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and party leader Tejashwi Yadav. His remarks come in the wake of raids at 17 places related to party chief Lalu Prasad Yadav and his family by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday.
According to a report by news agency IANS, Tiwari said, “The BJP is not digesting the closeness of Nitish Kumar and Tejashwi Yadav. They came together on the issue of caste-based census and the BJP and the RSS want to stop it at any cost in Bihar. The idea of the BJP and the RSS is to make a large chunk of population deprived from the resources and facilities.”
Tiwari said that the caste-based census would provide the actual numbers of every caste in the state and based on that, the government will chalk out policies for the people. He claimed that the saffron party wants to prevent that so that the people in Bihar never reach a point where they can voice their stand against the government and be vocal for their rights.
However, Ashok Chaudhary, who is considered a minister of Nitish Kumar's 'kitchen cabinet', refuted the claims of the RJD.
"Caste-based census is a long-standing demand of Nitish Kumar. Hence, CBI raids at the premises of Lalu Prasad's family is not connected to caste-based census and closeness of Nitish Kumar and Tejashwi Yadav," he said, adding, "When Lalu Prasad Yadav was Railway Minister, there were some allegations of corruption levelled against him regarding the recruitment process in Railways."
Notably, the CBI conducted raids at 17 locations related to the RJD chief, in Delhi and Bihar. The raids were in connection with a new case filed against the former Bihar Chief Minister over 'land for railway job scam'.