Political pundits in Bihar are viewing the reopening of a corruption case against Lalu Prasad Yadav and his family members by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) as a move by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to unsettle the ruling alliance in the run-up to the 2024 General Election.The CBI itself closed the corruption case in 2021 on the grounds that “no case had been made out of the allegation”.But within two months of Nitish Kumar walking out of the alliance with the BJP and returning to the alliance in August 2022, the CBI petitioned its special court in Delhi to cancel the bail of Lalu’s son Tejashwi Yadav, who is Bihar’s deputy chief minister.On October 18, the special court rejected the CBI’s petition.“Even a child knows that the BJP is misusing the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate,” said Jayaprakash Yadav, general secretary of the Rashtriya Janata Dal and a former Union minister.The corruption caseIn July 2017, the CBI carried out a series of raids on Lalu Prasad Yadav’s establishments in connection with what it called “irregularities” in the Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) and implicated Tejashwi Yadav, the deputy chief minister in the then alliance government, and others in Lalu’s family, in the cases.Also read: Explainer: The Many Corruption Charges Against Lalu Prasad Yadav and His FamilyArguing that his party would not be associated with corruption, Nitish Kumar broke away from the Mahagathbandhan, of which he was then a member, and allied with the BJP again.The CBI had investigated alleged corruption in the allotment of railway projects when Lalu was the railway minister in the United Progressive Alliance government from 2004 to 2009. The investigating agency closed the inquiry in May 2021, saying “no case had been made out of the allegation”, according to the documents in possession of Lalu’s lawyers.According to the allegations, Lalu had received a south Delhi property as bribe from the real estate major DLF Group, which was interested in rail land lease projects in Mumbai’s Bandra, and the revamp of the New Delhi Railway Station. It was alleged that the property was bought by a DLF-funded shell company and then bought by Tejashwi Yadav. The CBI also implicated Chanda Yadav and Ragini Yadav, Lalu’s two daughters, in the case.Nitish’s reactionsIn his four decades of public life, Nitish Kumar has seldom commented on the functioning of India’s investigating agencies. But, on October 15, when the CBI petitioned for the cancellation of Tejashwi’s bail, Nitish said at a public meeting at Samastipur on October 18: “They – (the BJP and the CBI) – lodged cases against Laluji and his family when we (the JD(U) and the RJD) came together. Thus, we were separated. Now that we have come together again after five years apart, they are making new charges against Laluji and his family members. What type of elements are they?”Also read: For the First Time, Nitish Questions CBI’s Credibility in Cases Against Lalu, TejashwiThis Wednesday, December 28, reacting to the reopening of the case by the CBI, Nitish told reporters: “You understand… they are doing it because we have come together.”Lalu Prasad Yadav and Nitish Kumar in happier times. Photo: PTI When Lalu and others were charged by the CBI in the fodder scam cases, Nitish had never commented on the proceedings.His public image is of a leader who is strongly against corruption. Nitish, most recently, had insisted that the late Mewalal Choudhary resign after having been charged with corruption soon after becoming a minister. Thus, there is some weight to Nitish’s public assertion now, in favour of RJD’s leaders.Facts of the caseThe facts and circumstances of the charges against Lalu and Tejashwi shed light on certain inconsistencies.First, the cases were initiated in 2017, eight years after Lalu had ceased to be the railway minister and two years after Nitish had broken ties with the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and formed the Mahagathbandhan with Lalu in Bihar. Lalu’s tenure as the railway minister between 2004 and 2009 was not only unblemished, but official records show that the railways had recorded a huge profit of over Rs 90,000 crores even though Lalu had reduced passenger fares during his term.Also read: In Fresh Graft Case Against Lalu, an Attempt by BJP to Undermine Him Ahead of 2024 PollsBorn on November 11, 1989, Tejashwi, who was also charged in this case, was 14 years old when his father became the railway minister in the Manmohan Singh-led government.Moves and manoeuvresAll the members of the Mahagathbandhan as well as neutral political observers in Bihar believe that the BJP has been unable to harness the politics of polarisation in Bihar in the manner it had done in Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and other states under its rule. Many thus feel that the only way for the BJP to make a serious impact in Bihar would be to ensure Tejashwi is named in corruption cases.The CBI opposed Lalu’s bail in the fodder scam cases for over four years from 2016 to June 2022. Many others in the same cases, including the late Jagannath Mishra, a former chief minister of Bihar, had been granted bail on medical grounds, but despite the ailments Lalu suffered, the CBI had opposed all his bail applications. Now that he has completed half the sentence in every case – the condition set by the Supreme Court for the grant of bail – Lalu is out on regular bail.In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the NDA won 39 seats (including the JD(U)’s 16) in Bihar. It remains to be seen if the BJP can repeat this performance should the Mahagathbandhan remain intact in 2024.Nalin Verma is a senior journalist, media educator and independent researcher in social anthropology.