The Opposition NDA on Wednesday demanded health minister Tej Pratap's dismissal after pictures showing Mohammad Shahabuddin's alleged sharpshooter Mohammed Kaif with him went viral.

The NDA - which had organised a mahadharna to demand slapping of the Crime Control Act (CCA) against Shahabuddin - got another stick to beat the Nitish government with when the pictures surfaced. "While Lalu Prasad is in the company of Siwan don Shahabuddin, his son Tej Pratap is in the company of Shahabuddin's shooter, Mohammad Kaif," senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi said.

The NDA also demanded a CBI probe of the Rajdev murder case. All NDA constituents attended the mahadharna in Gardanibagh area.

"Nitish keeps talking about high ethics in politics. If he has guts, he should dismiss Tej from his cabinet," HAMS chief Jitan Ram Manjhi said. He said it was apparent Nitish was patronising criminals by keeping mum on the Shahabuddin and Kaif issues.

Those attending the mahadharna also demanded that the state government expedite CBI probe into the Rajdev case. LJP sources said Union minister for food and public distribution Ram Vilas Paswan spoke to Rajdev's widow Asha Ranjan on Wednesday and promised to talk to Union home minister Rajnath Singh to initiate CBI probe of the case. Some days ago, Siwan's BJP MP Om Prakash Yadav, too, had met Rajnath with Asha in this regard.

Senior BJP leader Nand Kishore Yadav said fresh evidence had emerged in which Kaif, wanted by Siwan police, was standing close to Shahabuddin after his release from jail, proving "beyond doubt" that he has close ties to Shahabuddin.

The NDA leaders also asked the state government to move Supreme Court, seeking quashing of Shahabuddin's bail.

BJP state president Mangal Pandey, leader of Opposition in the Assembly Prem Kumar, HAMS state president Brishen Patel, the LJP's Satya Nand Sharma and RLSP leaders were among those who attended the maha dharna. The NDA will organise a similar maha dharna in all district headquarters on Thursday.