Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar met his deputy Tejashwi Yadav on Tuesday evening in Patna, their first one-on-one meeting since the Central Bureau of Investigation filed corruption charges against Yadav. The Rashtriya Janata Dal leader defended himself against the CBI’s allegations and presented Kumar with an explanation vetted by his lawyers and father Lalu Prasad Yadav, NDTV reported.
Senior Congress leader from Bihar Ashok Choudhary had set up the meeting between the two. The Congress is the third party in Bihar’s grand alliance.
Kumar’s Janata Dal(United) had earlier asked the deputy chief minister to resign from the post, but the RJD had rejected this demand. The JD(U) had also given RJD four days to dispel the corruption allegations against Yadav. The ultimatum expired on Saturday.
On July 15, the deputy chief minister had skipped a government event in Patna, where he was supposed to share the stage with Kumar. On July 17, RJD leaders had requested Lalu Prasad and the chief minister to resolve the ongoing crisis in the grand alliance.
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