Bihar floor test: Speaker resigns; CBI raids homes of 2 RJD leaders

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday (August 24) raided the residences of two senior leaders of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) as part of its probe into an alleged ‘land-for-jobs’ scam during the tenure of RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav as the Railway minister.

The raids come on a day when the Nitish Kumar-helmed JD(U) government that recently tied up with RJD after exiting its alliance with BJP, is slated to face a floor test to prove its majority in the assembly.

Meanwhile, ahead of Kumar’s floor test, Bihar Assembly Speaker Vijay Kumar Sinha resigned. “Bowing before majority, I resign as speaker,” Sinha said inside the Assembly.

According to reports, the searches were made at the houses of RJD’s Rajya Sabha MP Ahmad Ashfaque Karim and Sunil Singh, a member of the Bihar legislative council on Wednesday morning.

The agency is also conducting raids at the residence of former RJD MLC Subodh Roy in Patna.

Singh told the media that the raids were being done intentionally to scare RJD MLAs into joining the BJP’s side during the trust vote.

On Tuesday night, an RJD spokesperson had tweeted that CBI and other central agencies are likely to conduct raids on politicians of ruling parties as the BJP is miffed over losing power in Bihar.

RJD’s Rajya Sabha MP Manoj Jha on Wednesday said now it has become evident that any raids by central agencies are orchestrated by the BJP.

“Useless to say that it’s raid by ED or IT or CBI, it’s a raid by BJP. They work under BJP now, their offices run with BJP script. Today is Floor Test (in Bihar Assembly) and what’s happening here? It has become predictable: RJD RS MP Manoj Jha on CBI raids on two RJD leaders in Patna,” he told ANI.

“Our Deputy CM had said in the meeting yesterday that they will reach this level now. It didn’t take even 24 hours. They stooped down even lower. What is this anger? That a government didn’t run as per you? That it changed the alliance for public welfare?” Jha added.

In a case filed by the CBI in May this year, Lalu and his family have been accused of receiving land and properties in exchange of allotting railway jobs to aspirants, during recruitments between 2004 and 2009.

The RJD in response had questioned why the CBI was probing a case 13 years after Yadav’s tenure as Railway minister, adding that “the Lalu family will not bow and get scared” of the “nasty agency”.

Bhola Yadav, an aide of Lalu was arrested in the case in June this year.