Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav on Sunday got miffed on Sunday on being asked about the possibility of a realignment with Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar.
“Why would we join hands? Why are you trying to divert attention from the issue at hand?” PTI quoted the former deputy chief minister as saying.
During the press conference, Yadav was asked about media reports speculating that Nitish Kumar was reportedly wary of his ruling alliance partner Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) pushing for a leadership change after the Bihar assembly elections.
“There is no offer from anybody. In my party, only RJD president Lalu ji and I are authorised to take any decision on alliances. Please do not talk nonsense,” Tejashwi Yadav said.
He underscored that Kumar was “no longer in his senses which was evident from “the quality of language he has come to use in public”.
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Recalling a couple of instances of the CM trying to touch the feet of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in public, Yadav remarked, “Does this behove the chief minister of a state? The day may not be far when Kumar will be falling at the feet of his two current deputies Vijay Kumar Sinha and Samrat Choudhary.”
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Nitish Kumar’s flip flops
Nitish Kumar broke ties with the BJP in 2013, months ahead of the saffron party anointing Narendra Modi as the prime ministerial candidate. He forged a ‘Mahagathbandhan’ with friend-turned-foe Lalu Prasad and won the 2015 Bihar assembly election.
However, he resigned as chief minister in 2017, citing “irreconcilable differences” with his then-alliance partner RJD over corruption charges against his then-deputy Tejashwi Yadav. He returned as CM with BJP support, marking his return to the NDA after four years.
Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) and BJP contested the 2019 Lok Sabha polls and then the 2020 Bihar assembly election, returning as CM again.
But in 2022, the JD(U) veteran walked out of the NDA and again joined hands with the RJD, only to change sides again in early 2024 and return to the NDA.