Delhi's Rouse Avenue Court frames criminal conspiracy and cheating charges against Tejashwi Yadav and Rabri Devi in IRCTC scam over alleged quid pro quo in 2004-05 hotel contracts for land gifts; Lalu Prasad co-accused, next hearing pending.
Slams Amit Shah as an "outsider," vows to fight BJP "as long as alive," calls charges a political ploy; asserts "path of struggle" will lead to victory amid Bihar election buildup.
ED-CBI probe alleges irregularities during Lalu's railway minister tenure; BJP celebrates as anti-corruption win, RJD decries vendetta to suppress opposition ahead of 2025 polls.
Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav on Monday lambasted Union Home Minister Amit Shah, declaring as a "true Bihari" he harbors no fear of "outsiders" attempting to intimidate him. The sharp rebuttal came hours after a Delhi court framed charges against Yadav, his father Lalu Prasad Yadav, and mother Rabri Devi in the long-running IRCTC land-for-jobs scam case, a development the BJP has seized upon to intensify its pre-election offensive against the opposition stalwart.
according to PTI, speaking to reporters in Patna, Yadav framed the legal proceedings as politically motivated vendettas, vowing to persist in his crusade against the BJP "as long as I am alive," and asserted that the path of struggle would lead his family to ultimate vindication.
The case, originally registered by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in 2022 and later taken up by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), alleges irregularities in the allotment of operational contracts for two IRCTC hotels—Pawan International and Konark Lodge—in 2004-2005 during Lalu Prasad's tenure as Union Railway Minister. Prosecutors claim the contracts were awarded to a Delhi-based private firm in exchange for land parcels gifted to the Yadav family in Bihar, flouting tender processes and constituting a quid pro quo arrangement.
Yadav, who served as Bihar's Deputy Chief Minister until the NDA's resurgence in 2024, dismissed the charges as a "witch hunt" orchestrated by the BJP to derail the RJD's momentum ahead of the 2025 assembly polls. "We have chosen the path of struggle, and by walking on that path, we will surely reach our destination," he declared, drawing parallels to past legal battles that he alleges were similarly engineered to silence dissent. His comments appeared to directly counter Shah's recent Bihar tour, where the Home Minister accused the RJD of "dynastic corruption" and warned of "consequences" for those undermining national interests, rhetoric that Yadav interpreted as a veiled threat from an "outsider" to Bihar's sovereignty.
