TEJASHWI SKIPS EVENT ATTENDED BY CM, TRIGGERS SPECULATION

Crisis deepened in Bihar’s ruling Grand Alliance on Saturday with deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav skipping an official function with chief minister Nitish Kumar in Patna. The name plaque of RJD leader Tejashwi was first covered with a piece of cloth and soon removed from the dais.

According to officials, Tejashwi’s name plaque was earlier arranged along with that of Nitish Kumar on the table at an official function of the Vishwa Yuva Kaushal Divas at Gayan Bhawan in Patna. But it was first covered with cloth and then hurriedly removed before the programme officially began.

The development strengthened speculation that the crisis between the Janata Dal-United of Nitish Kumar and the Rashtriya Janata Dal of Lalu Prasad has further deepened over allegations of corruption against the RJD chief and his family.

Tejashwi’s name was mentioned in the invitation for the function.

Bihar has been in the grip of a political crisis over the demand for the resignation of Tejashwi after the CBI registered a case against him in a benami property case and also raided his premises last week.

The infamous 2011 Jorhat operation is back to haunt the army.

India’s most decorated officer, colonel Saurabh Singh Shekhawat, has accused two former army chiefs and a senior serving officer of victimising him for speaking up about the botched intelligence operation that caused a huge embarrassment to the force.

The 45-year-old Shekhawat has named former chief Gen Bikram Singh, his successor Dalbir Singh and Lt Gen Abhay Krishna in his complaint to the army headquarters.

“I am forced, with distress and disillusionment, to state that despite being highest decorated serving officer in the army with an unblemished operational profile, I have been systematically victimised by officers at the highest level,” Shekhawat has said in the letter, a copy of which is with HT.