Law Kumar Mishra
Patna, March 9
The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) is stunned over the silence of opposition parties over the quizzing of its two former Chief Ministers by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) last week.
The central agency had questioned Rabri Devi and her husband Lalu Prasad in the land for jobs scam in Indian Railways. The scam allegedly took place during Lalu’s tenure as Railway Minister.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who had been critical of the CBI searches in residences of RJD leaders in August last year, is now silent.
On August 22 last year, immediately after the new government headed by Nitish with help of RJD, Congress, Left parties was sworn in, CBI had raided the houses of Rabri and Lalu in Patna and 16 other places in the country during the floor test of the Grand Alliance government. Nitish Kumar had reacted by saying, “Since they (RJD) have come with us, these raids are taking place”.
However, Nitish Kumar did not react when RJD leaders were questioned in Patna and New Delhi last week. Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, who was present in the assembly, told media persons, “Nitish ji inquired about the CBI presence in 10, Circular road residence of Rabri Devi”. Nitish however remained silent.
The Congress and the three Left parties supporting the government also did not react to the CBI actions. Probe in the fodder scam against Lalu Prasad had started when H D Deve Gowda was Prime Minister and he was convicted in 2013 when Manmohan Singh was the Prime Minister.
Manoj Jha, RJD member of Rajya Sabha, was quick to react to the behaviour of the opposition leaders on CBI actions in Bihar and New Delhi. He said the culture of silence (Chuppi ki sanskriti) was not a healthy sign. He was annoyed with the selective reactions by the opposition parties in ED and CBI actions.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar did not sign the memorandum sent to the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi on the alleged victimization of opposition leaders through CBI, ED and Income Tax. His Deputy Tejashwi Prasad signed the memorandum. He met non-BJP Chief Ministers Hemant Soren (Jharkhand), Arwind Kejriwal (Delhi), K Chandrashekhar Rao (Telangana) and M K Stalin (Tamil Nadu).
Nitish Kumar who is recognised for his stand on zero corruption and no compromise on corruption had practiced it in 2017, when he snapped ties with the RJD when CBI and filed cases against Tejashwi in IRCTC case and allotment of lands in Patna, Bhubaneswar and Ranchi. He had joined hands with the BJP condemning RJD.
A mysterious silence by Nitish Kumar on CBI action against the first RJD family has surprised even the RJD leaders here.
They claim the complaint against Lalu in the land for job alleged scam was filed in 2008 when Lalu was Railway Minister. CBI had closed the case and now re-opened when the party joined the Grand Alliance against the BJP.
