BJP can’t break us, says JD (U) as RJD rules out Tejashwi’s exit
This tirade which has been unleashed against Lalu Yadav... because the BJP wants (to) break the opposition, but this is impossible
Bihar’s ruling Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) backed deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav on Monday, saying party chief Lalu Prasad’s younger son will not resign from government despite corruption charges and mounting political pressure.
Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) too threw its weight behind its Bihar ally, saying the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won’t succeed in breaking the back of a united opposition.
“This tirade which has been unleashed against Lalu Yadav and his family because the BJP wants break the united opposition, but this is impossible, we will unite,” JD(U) president Sharad Yadav told ANI.
RJD sources, meanwhile, told HT that at a meeting of RJD legislators, all were unanimous in their view that the deputy CM should not resign. This was the first party MLA meeting after the Central Bureau of Investigation raided Lalu’s house over an alleged land-for-hotels scandal on Friday.
“The meeting praised the work of Tejashwi. He is our leader of RJD legislature party. There is no instability in the coalition government. The BJP is trying to destabilise it,” said senior RJD leader and state finance minister Abdul Bari Siddiqui, dismissing that Tejashwi’s fate in the government post CBI raid was discussed in the legislature party meeting.
The RJD leaders, including former MP Jagadanand Singh, said there was no threat to the Grand Alliance (GA) government despite sustained bids made by the BJP-led government at the Centre to destabilise it. “Chief minister Nitish Kumar had talked to the RJD chief yesterday. AICC president Sonia Gandhi too had a talk with him,” said Singh.
The statement comes amid increasing tension between Lalu and his coalition partner and chief minister Nitish Kumar, who is said to be uncomfortable with mounting corruption charges against the RJD chief and his fam
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There is no instability in the coalition government. The BJP is trying to destabilise it