Tejashwi to Nitish: You used me as a pawn
RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, who on Friday took over as Leader of Opposition in the Bihar Assembly, accused CM Nitish Kumar of using him as a pawn to go over to the BJP.
“You (Nitish Kumar) used me as a pawn to go over to the BJP. You have gone from saying ‘Hey Ram’ (in consternation) when you saw the BJP, to saying ‘Jai Shri Ram’,” Tejashwi Yadav, who was the state’s Deputy Chief Minister till Wednesday evening, said in his over 40-minute speech in the Assembly.
Tejashwi Yadav also accused the Janata Dal-United President of ‘insulting’ the mandate of the people time and again. “In 2013, he dumped the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) and expelled the BJP ministers from his cabinet, and now again he has repeated it. The JD-U and BJP-led NDA joining hands to form the government is an insult to democracy,” he said.
He said the Grand Alliance of JD-U, Rashtriya Janata Dal and and Congress was given the mandate of five years by the people in the 2015 Assembly elections, and it was against the BJP.
Tejashwi said it was Nitish Kumar who had called for making a “sangh mukt” (RSS free) India but had himself bowed down before the RSS. “Nitish Kumar was with the BJP earlier too, but this time he has proved he is anti-Backward Classes and anti-Dalit by rejoining them.”
He reminded Nitish Kumar that in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the JD-U had managed to win only two seats thanks to the RJD, and the RJD won four seats despite the BJP wave.
Tejashwi said Nitish Kumar had never discussed his resignation with him over corruption charges. “If he had, I would have thought about it. I was taking legal opinion and I told him so. If Nitish had asked me to resign, I would have thought about it,” he said.
He charged that BJP leader Sushil Modi is also facing cases. “So why did he take oath (as Deputy Chief Minister). Why was the timing of the oath-taking ceremony changed? How did PM Narendra Modi tweet so quickly on Nitish Kumar's resignation?,” he asked.