Tejashwi Yadav breaks silence on CBI raids, says 'FIR against me political vendetta, Bihar alliance will remain intact'

Patna: Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav, who has been named in a CBI FIR in land-for-hotels case, on Wednesday broke his silence on the ongoing political crisis in the state and alleged that he is being subjected to a political vendetta by the opposition. 

The 27-year-old Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) minister also made it clear that the Bihar ruling grand alliance of RJD-JDU-Congress will remain intact. 

"I haven't done anything wrong. This is a conspiracy. This is all fake. I had pledged zero tolerance to corruption when Ii took over as a minister. There has been not one case of corruption in my three departments so far," Tejashwi said. 

Hitting out at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Tejashwi dubbed the CBI action against him as a conspiracy to break the grand alliance in the state. 

"FIR against me is a political vendetta. This is a conspiracy by Amit Shah and Prime Minister Modi. From day one, they have tried to break our alliance. The alliance is strong and will not break. BJP will get a fitting reply," he said. 

"They are bringing up cases of 2004 against me. I didn't have a moustache in 2004. I was 13-14 yr old that time. How could a kid do all this?," Tejashwi said on FIR against him. 

As per a News18 report, the RJD minister made it clear that he won't resign from his post. 

On Tuesday, CM Nitish had called a meeting of JD(U) MPs, MLAs and other office-bearers of the party to discuss the CBI raids on ally and RJD chief Lalu Prasad and his family members.

As per IANS, Nitish broke his silence over Tejashwi, against whom a corruption case has been filed by the CBI, saying he has zero-tolerance against corruption.

"I shall not compromise with my principles. I am firm on my resolve of zero tolerance against corruption," IANS quoted Nitish as saying while addressing his party Janata Dal-United's leaders and workers at his official residence here.

Meanwhile, the RJD, which held its legislature party leaders meeting two days back, has already thrown its weight behind Tejashwi and ruled out his resignation.

In addition, the BJP too has offered its support to the JD(U) from outside if it breaks out of the ruling grand alliance in the state.

On July 7, the CBI registered a corruption case against Lalu Yadav, his wife Rabri Devi, son Tejaswi Yadav; former Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) Managing Director P.K. Goyal; and the wife of Lalu's confidante Prem Chand Gupta, Sujata on allegations of awarding the tender for development, maintenance and operation of hotels in Ranchi and Puri in 2006.

The CBI later questioned Rabri Devi and Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejaswi Yadav.

The case was registered on the allegations of awarding the tender for development, maintenance and operation of Hotels at Ranchi and Puri to a Private Company dealing with Hotels in the year 2006.

The investigative agency also conducted searches at 12 locations across Patna, Delhi, Gurugram and other places.