‘Chameleon-like’: Tejashwi rules out tie-up with Nitish

NEW DELHI: Amid disagreements over seat sharing within the Bihar grand alliance constituents for the upcoming bypolls, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav on Sunday said the elections in the state will not have any impact on the health of the secular coalition.

Yadav also described Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar as a "chameleon-like" character and ruled out any possibility in the future of him returning to the secular alliance fold.

In an interview to PTI, Yadav attacked Kumar saying he helped the RSS and BJP grow and jeopardised secular and socialist politics.

The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader hit out at the BJPJD(U) government's response to the flood situation in Bihar, saying the entire state has helplessly watched the "insensitivity" of the Nitish Kumar dispensation and will speak at the polling booth.

"Floods, water logging, acute encephalitis syndrome deaths, Muzaffarpur shelter home case are not natural calamities but government-created disasters due to corruption," the former Bihar deputy chief minister said.

Asked about the disagreements over seat sharing among grand alliance constituents, Yadav said: "Let us understand this in perspective. These bypolls are for only five assembly segments and the age of this assembly is hardly ten more months." Disagreements among grand alliance constituents came to the fore when Jitan Ram Manjhi's Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) fielded its candidate against the RJD in Nathnagar, while Vikassheel Insan Party led by Mukesh Sahni named its candidate for the Simri Bakhtiyarpur seat. By-elections will take place on October 21 for the Samastipur Lok Sabha seat necessitated by the death of the sitting LJP MP, as also for Daraunda, Nathnagar, Simari Bakhtiarpur, Kishanganj and Belhar assembly segments with the incumbent JD(U) MLAS and a Congress MLA elected to Parliament.

Yadav said alliance partners such as HAM and VIP are innate to "our greater efforts and these by-polls shall not have any impact on the health of our alliance."

All grand alliance partners are well aware of the anti-people policies of the central and state governments and they would remain in solidarity with the cause of the people, the leader of the opposition in the Bihar Assembly said.