5 RJD MLCs join JD(U) in Bihar, top leader steps down; Tejashwi blames Nitish Kumar

Patna, June 23: RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav on Tuesday accused Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who is also the chief of the JD(U), of hatching plots against the opposition.

His remarks come after five of its eight members of the legislative council in Bihar quit the opposition party and joined Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal-United) even as Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, one of its founding members, resigned as the national vice-president.

The development is being seen as a huge setback for the opposition party in the election year.

"I offer my best wishes to my former party colleagues at their new political abode. I laud Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for demonstrating how constructive he has been during the three months he remained confined to his official residence,” Yadav, who is RJD’s chief ministerial candidate in the Bihar assembly polls due in a few months, said.

The RJD leader was replying to queries of journalists who had rushed to the Raj Bhavan here upon learning that Yadav was going to meet Governor Fagu Chauhan and submit a memorandum.

The memorandum was not related to the events of the day and sought to draw the attention of the governor towards the alleged dilution of provisions of reservation for SCs, STs and OBCs.

Yadav said that “all the steps taken by Nitish Kumar are aimed at furthering his personal ambitions”. “This was the case when he (Kumar) betrayed us three years ago and returned to the NDA despite having fought the elections as our ally and getting the popular mandate, which was against the BJP,” the RJD leader, who is a former deputy chief minister of Bihar, said.

The leader of the opposition in the state assembly, claimed that he was not perturbed by the 'bhagdar’ (stampede) in his party but asserted that “the JD(U) chief will have to explain what the people of Bihar gained".

"Nitish Kumar might have gained something psychologically in an election year,” he commented. When asked about RJD founding member Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, who stepped down from the post of national vice-president, Yadav said, “Raghuvansh babu is my guardian and one of the nurturers of RJD.

At present I am most worried about his health”. “I am in touch with the hospital where he is undergoing treatment for COVID-19. I had spoken to him over phone recently. Once he recovers, I will speak to him again and all things will be ironed out,” he said.

Singh stepped down from the top post in protest against the proposed induction of his bete noire Rama Singh, at whose hands the former union minister had tasted defeat in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

Meanwhile, the Congress, an old ally of the RJD which had suffered a split in 2018 when three of its MLCs led by former BPCC chief Ashok Choudhary switched over to the JD(U), expressed displeasure over the 'jod tod’ by the ruling NDA in Bihar.

The JD(U) has set a wrong precedent. It will lead to increased immorality and unscrupulousness in politics, AICC media panelist and MLC Prem Chandra Mishra said in a statement.