Was 13, didn't have moustache: Tejashwi on corruption charge
RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav's son and Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav, who is accused of corruption in land-for-hotel deals, said, "I was only 13 when the sale of railway hotels took place in 2004." He added, "I did not even have a moustache at that time. How can a 13 or 14-year-old do all this?"
A day after Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar stopped short of asking him to step down in the wake of corruption charges, deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav ruled out possibility of quitting. Tejashwi, who attended the Cabinet meeting called by Nitish alongwith elder brother Tej Pratap, described corruption charges levelled against him as a conspiracy hatched by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). "I was just 13 or 14 when the sale of railway hotels took place. (2004 mein humari moochein bhi nahi aayi thi. 13-14 saal ka baccha ye sab kaise kar sakta hai?)," Tejashwi Yadav told reporters in Patna."I had pledged zero tolerance on corruption when I took over as minister. Not one case of corruption has been reported in any of the three departments I hold so far," he said. "FIR against me is political vendetta. Conspiracy by Amit Shah and PM Modi. From Day 1 they have been trying to break our alliance but  Mahagathbandhan is will not break and BJP will get a befitting reply," Tejashwi, who has been named by the CBI in a land-for-hotel case, said."First, they feared my father (Lalu) and now they are nervous of me also and therefore they are targeting me," a defiant Tejashwi said. He went on to play the caste card  asserting that since he came from backward caste, the BJP was targeting him. "People of Bihar elected me. I have been doing good work which has made the BJP and their leaders nervous. I am being targeted because I belong to backward caste," he said. TEJASHWI WON'T QUIT: LALURJD chief Lalu Yadav has already made it clear that his son won't step down . n his first interview after last week's CBI raids on his family and associates, the former Bihar CM categorically ruled out Tejashwi resigning from Nitish Kumar's Cabinet.Lalu described the CBI raids as part of a conspiracy hatched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah to "finish off him and his party - RJD"."Tejashwi was a minor...cricket player when the hotel deal was finalised. These are baseless allegations," he said.Nitish's JD-U had on Tuesday asked Tejashwi Yadav, an accused in the land-for-hotels scandal, to "come out with facts in public against the accusations" but stopped short of demanding his resignation. ALSO READ:EXCLUSIVE: No question of Tejashwi resigning, says Lalu on Nitish's 4-day ultimatumAs Nitish Kumar decides on dumping Tejashwi Yadav, Lalu's son is hitting political worries for a sixAfter CBI raids on Lalu Prasad Yadav, ED searches farms of Misa Bharti, husband Shailesh in Delhi