Bihar’s Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav on Wednesday said he would not step down, ANI reported. The deputy chief minister accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of trying to break the grand alliance between his father, Lalu Prasad Yadav’s, Rashtriya Janta Dal and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United).
Earlier on Wednesday, Lalu Prasad Yadav had ruled out Tejashwi’s resignation and refuted reports that Kumar had demanded that his son step down. The Central Bureau of Investigation had filed corruption charges against Tejashwi Yadav and others on July 7.
“These are just rumours,” said Tejashwi Yadav. “BJP wants to break the alliance. They don’t want Bihar to develop. They are ‘anti-Bihari’.”
Tejashwi Yadav said the BJP was interested in forming their own government in the state. “BJP wants to disrupt non-BJP governments in other states. They want to form their own government in Bihar. The people of our state opted for this RJD-JDU alliance. We will not let this alliance break.”
The deputy chief minister denied reports about his questioning Kumar’s governance. “We have always supported him [Nitish Kumar],” Tejashwi Yadav said. “It is the RSS and the BJP that wants to break our alliance.”
The RJD and Kumar-led JD (U) held separate meetings with their respective legislators on Wednesday to discuss whether Tejashwi Yadav should quit as the Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar, Hindustan Times reported.
RJD leader Shivanand Tiwary threatened to reveal incriminating details about the chief minister if he takes action against Tejashwi. Tiwary said Kumar was “no saint”. “I know him for 40 years and his so-called zero tolerance policy on corruption is just a sham,” Tiwary said. “With folded hands, we requested Nitish Kumar to have a dialogue with us. But he did not listen to us. We said repeatedly said that you cannot run a coalition without dialogue.”
JD(U) spokesman KC Tyagi said it was difficult to say anything at this point of time. “The RJD should come up with clarification on the charges,” he said.
Grand alliance under threat?
On Tuesday, Kumar had said there will be no impact on the grand alliance in the state because of the recent tensions between the two parties. However, Kumar was also believed to have given an ultimatum to Tejashwi Yadav to resign from his post within the next 72 hours.
Tensions between the JD(U) chief and RJD chief Lalu Yadav heightened after the Bihar chief minister was criticised for not acting against Tejashwi Yadav. JD(U) had initially asked Tejashwi Yadav to resign, but he did not. The two parties, along with the Congress, make up the government in the state.
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