RJD gets 4 days to dispel graft charges on Tejashwi
PATNA: Bihar’s ruling allies appeared headed for a major confrontation on Tuesday, with a senior Janata Dal(United) leader saying partner Rashtriya Janata Dal has four days to dispel corruption allegations against deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav and his father Lalu Prasad.
The announcement came amid mounting pressure on chief minister Nitish Kumar to sack Tejashwi, who along with Lalu is facing charges in an alleged land-for-hotels scandal that saw the CBI raiding their homes and other properties last week.
Sources said Nitish stopped short of asking for Tejashwi’s resignation because formal charges hadn’t been filed in the case. The CM is said to be upset because his clean image is sullied by the alle- gations but doesn’t want to break the coalition by pushing for Lalu’s younger son to quit.
But issuing a deadline only signals Nitish is prepared for a showdown with the RJD to protect his reputation. “Nitish has put the ball in RJD’s court…,” said senior JD(U) leader Ramai Ram, emerging from a four-hourlong meeting of top party leaders chaired by the CM. He said the RJD had four days to respond.
Never had a ruling alliance partner’s meeting evinced such interest as did the JD(U)’s meeting held at Kumar’s official residence. A short distance away, at 10 Circular Road, Tejashwi played cricket with children. Lalu was at Ranchi . To drive home his ‘zero tolerance against corruption principle’, the JD(U), gave the example of former CM Jitan Ram Manjhi, R N Singh of JD (U) and Ramadhar Singh of BJP, who were asked to resign when graft charges surfaced against them in 2005.
The chief minister made it clear that he has not compromised on standards set for corruption NEERAJ KUMAR, JD(U) leader