Lalu Plan B: Tej Pratap Dy CM if Tejashwi held
RJD chief may promote Tej Pratap as the deputy CM who as health minister is number three in the cabinet.
: What will happen to the coveted deputy chief minister’s position in the Bihar government if the CBI arrests incumbent Tejashwi Prasad Yadav along with his father, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad, in the alleged railway hotels-for-land scam?
This question had been haunting Lalu ever since the central agency raided a dozen places owned by his family, including their Patna residence, in this connection on Friday. However, the RJD chief and his aides have now struck upon a likely solution to this problem. “Tej Pratap’s position as the health minister makes him the number three in the cabinet. He can be promoted to the number two slot in case of any exigency,” said a senior party leader on the condition of anonymity. He pointed out that Tej Pratap – Lalu’s eldest son – has not been indicted in the alleged scam.
The party leader asserted that nobody other than a member of Lalu’s family could become the deputy chief minister, a post equivalent to a cabinet minister created in the Grand Alliance government that came to power in Bihar on November 8, 2015.
A day after Tejashwi was named in an FIR filed by the CBI, the RJD leadership unanimously decided that they will not yield to the BJP’s attempts to get him and Tej Pratap ousted from the cabinet. While the deputy chief minister indicated their intent to stand firm during a press meet on Friday, other RJD leaders confirmed it the follow- ing day. Lalu has termed the raids as an act of political vendetta by the BJP-led NDA government. “We do not know if the chief minister will demand Tejashwi’s resignation over the CBI’s FIR, but our stand is clear – Tejashwi will not resign on his own,” said an RJD leader, citing a previous instance of Union minister Uma Bharti holding on to her ministerial post even after being chargesheeted in a criminal case. The RJD’s stand on Lalu’s sons not quitting the Nitish ministry is likely to put the JD(U) in a tight spot.