PATNA/ NEW DELHI, Jan 28: RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, whose party on Sunday lost power following Nitish Kumar’s latest volte-face, claimed that the latter’s JD(U) will be “finished in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls”.
The former deputy chief minister described his ex-boss as a “respectable” but “tired” leader and warned the BJP, which has teamed up with the JD(U) chief, that the septuagenarian did not like to share “credit” with allies.
“Nitish Kumar seems to have a problem with me getting the credit for many achievements of our government. It should ring alarm bells for the BJP,” remarked Yadav.
“Nitishji is a respectable leader. He used to mock me when I was in the opposition for promising 10 lakh jobs during the 2020 state elections. I made him work in that direction”, said the young leader.
He added, “whatever may be the excuses Nitish ji makes for switching sides, his JD(U) is all set to be finished (khatam hone wala hai) in Lok Sabha polls”.
Yadav, who is RJD supremo Lalu Prasad’s younger son, became the deputy CM in August, 2022, when Kumar had severed ties with the BJP and joined the Mahagathbandhan.
‘Thank you Tejashwi’: RJD puts out ads in Bihar newspapers
RJD on Sunday put out full-page advertisements in newspapers to “thank” its young leader Tejashwi Yadav for his contributions as the deputy chief minister.
“Dhanyawad (thank you) Tejashwi,” say the advertisements put out in Hindi, from “state unit of Rashtriya Janata Dal, Mahagathbandhan Parivar”, in an obvious bid to boost the image of the 34-year-old leader, whose father Lalu Prasad heads the party.
Nitish Kumar a ‘chameleon’, ‘expert’ of betrayal: Congress
The Congress on Sunday called Bihar Chief Minister and JD(U) president Nitish Kumar a “chameleon” and said the people of the state will never forgive this “expert” of betrayal and those making him dance to their tunes.
The party was reacting to Kumar’s decision to resign as the chief minister of Bihar and leaving the ‘Mahagathbandhan (grand alliance)’ in the state while also dealing a body blow to the opposition bloc INDIA.
Kumar had joined the ‘Mahagathbandhan’ in August 2022, when he had snapped ties with the BJP, accusing it of trying to “split” his Janata Dal (United).
He had formed a new government with a multi-party coalition that included the RJD, the Congress and three Left parties.
Dubbing him as “Aaya Ram, Gaya Ram”, the Congress said there are many people like him in the country. The expression was used widely in politics in the 90s referring to the frequent floor-crossing and switching of parties.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said they already knew about Kumar’s decision to leave the alliance, but had not said anything to help keep the INDIA bloc together.
“There are many people like ‘Aaya Ram, Gaya Ram’ in the country. Earlier he and I were fighting together. When I talked to (RJD chief) Lalu (Prasad) ji and (his son) Tejashwi (Yadav) ji, they also said that Nitish is going,” he said.
The Congress president said if Kumar wanted to stay, he would have stayed.
“Therefore, we already knew this, but we did not say anything in order to keep the INDIA bloc intact. If we say something wrong, a wrong message will go out. Lalu Prasad Yadav ji and Tejashwi Yadav ji had already given us this information. Today, it has become true,” Kharge said. (PTI)
