Patna, May 20 (IANS): In wake of CBI raids in 17 places of party chief Lalu Prasad Yadav and his family on Friday, RJD Vice President Shivanand Tiwari claimed that the BJP became restless after the closeness of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and party leader Tejashwi Yadav.

"The BJP is not digesting the closeness of Nitish Kumar and Tejashwi Yadav. They came together on the issue of caste-based census and the BJP and the RSS want to stop it at any cost in Bihar. The idea of the BJP and the RSS is to make a large chunk of population deprived from the resources and facilities," he claimed.

"The caste-based census will give actual numbers of every caste in Bihar. Accordingly, the state government would prepare policies and provide facilities to them. After the caste-based census, the demand for distribution of resources and facilities would be possible and public would become more vocal on it. The BJP wants to prevent the country from coming into a situation like this where people would stand against the government for their rights," he added.

Ashok Chaudhary, who is considered as minister of Nitish Kumar's 'kitchen cabinet', denied the claim of the RJD.

"Caste-based census is a long-standing demand of Nitish Kumar. Hence, CBI raids at the premises of Lalu Prasad's family is not connected to caste-based census and closeness of Nitish Kumar and Tejashwi Yadav," he said.

"When Lalu Prasad Yadav was Railway Minister, there were some allegations of corruption leveled against him regarding the recruitment process in Railways," Chaudhary said.