Tejashwi Yadav arrived home in Patna from London today
Ailing Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Yadav returned home in Bihar from Delhi on Wednesday, days after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) charged the RJD patriarch with a fresh corruption case over alleged irregularities in recruitment between 2004 and 2009 when he was the Railway Minister. Lalu Yadav came to Patna with his eldest daughter Misa Bharti, at whose Delhi home he had been staying since he was released on bail last month in fodder scam cases. The RJD chief's son, Tejashwi Yadav, who had been to London, also came home today.
Outside Patna airport, Tejashwi Yadav told reporters the "politically motivated" raids won't end anytime soon.
"It was not the first time, and it is not going to be the last," he said as reporters surrounded him when he walked out of the terminal in Patna airport.
"Till the time constitutional institutions are being misused, raids on opposition leaders will continue unabated. We have seen the FIR (First Information Report)...Earlier too the CBI had investigated the same thing, but they didn't find anything," the RJD leader said.
"There are people in the government because of whom others have become very rich. But of course, the government will not raid them," he said.
On whether the raids are meant to send a warning signal over what has been seen as Tejashwi Yadav getting closer with Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who heads the rival Janata Dal (United), the RJD leader denied any such angle.
A huge crowd of RJD supporters was present at the airport to welcome Lalu Yadav, who came on a wheelchair. In the days ahead the RJD patriarch, who is seen as one of the tallest Other Backward Classes, or OBC, leaders in Bihar, is likely to target the centre on the issue of caste census.
After the centre's flat refusal to conduct a headcount of any social group other than Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, the Nitish Kumar government has agreed to get a survey done at its own expense. An all-party meeting is scheduled on June 1 to work out the details.