We Won't Be Scared: Lalu Yadav's Wife After CBI Raids On Party Leaders

Former Chief Minister of Bihar and leader of Rashtriya Janata Dal Rabri Devi on Wednesday lashed out at the Bharatiya Janata Party over the CBI raid at the residences of leaders of the RJD in connection with the "land for jobs" scam.

"They (BJP) are scared as a new government has been formed under the leadership of Nitish Kumar. All parties are with us except BJP. We have the majority here in the state and we will not be scared, because this is not the first time that is happening," Rabri Devi said.

Notably, the raids by CBI were conducted at the properties linked to RJD MLC Sunil Singh and three MPs Ashfaque Karim, Faiyaz Ahmed and Subodh Roy.

The RJD has questioned the timing of the raids on the day when newly formed Bihar government faces a trust vote on the floor of the Vidhan Sabha. Manoj Jha, RJD MP said the raids were done on purpose to intimidate the party's legislators.

"It is being done intentionally. There is no meaning to it. They are doing it thinking that out of fear, MLAs will come in their favour," said Mr Singh, RJD MLC and Chairman of Bihar state co-operative marketing union ltd. (BISCOMAUN) whose house was raided today.

RJD Rajya Sabha MP Manoj Jha said, "Useless to say that it is a raid by ED or IT or CBI, it is a raid by Bharatiya Janata Party. They work under BJP now, their offices run with BJP script. Today is Floor Test (in Bihar Assembly) & what's happening here? It has become predictable," said.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar faces a trust vote on the floor of the Vidhan Sabha. The Janata Dal United (JDU) leader had stepped down as Bihar CM after exiting from the BJP-led NDA alliance and joined hands with the RJD. He was sworn in as the chief minister for a record eighth time after the JDU teamed up with the RJD and Congress to form the government.

This May, the CBI had filed an FIR in the "land for railway job" case and named Lalu Yadav, his wife and daughters among several others as accused in the case. CBI conducted searches at 17 locations belonging to Lalu Yadav and his family members in Delhi and Bihar in May.

The CBI had in July arrested Bhola Yadav, who used to be the Officer on Special Duty (OSD) to Lalu Prasad Yadav when he was railway minister, in the alleged land-for-job case.