PATNA: The political impasse in Bihar appeared to inch towards a showdown on Thursday as a top Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader categorically said that deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav would not resign while another senior leader accused chief minister Nitish Kumar of looking for a way to tie up with the BJP.
In apparent defiance of JD(U)’s concerns about Kumar's clean image, senior RJD leader and state finance minister Abdul Bari Siddiqui said Tejashwi Yadav, who is RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav’s younger son, would not resign.
Shivanand Tiwari, a senior leader and former Rajya Sabha member close to the RJD chief, said that Nitish Kumar was looking for ways to cosy up with the BJP. “Tejashwi will not resign. Our party chief has already said that clarifications have already been made by Tejashwi and other leaders,” said Siddiqui. “There is absolutely no gain in dragging the issue forward,” he added.
Shivanand Tiwari, who recently wrote a letter to the CM and urged him to stay in the coalition in order not to allow BJP snatch power in the state, attacked him and said there was no need for Tejashwi to resign because of the FIR registered by CBI against him. “Nitish Kumar’s zero tolerance for corruption is a drama. It was proved when he forged an alliance with Lalu Yadav. In fact, he is now re-enacting this drama as he is looking for a way to tie up with BJP once again. Nitish feels at home with BJP,” said Tiwari, who is no longer in active politics.
JD(U) spokesperson Neeraj Kumar slammed Tiwari and asked him to stick to his “political retirement” while Ajay Alok, another JD(U) spokesperson, called Tiwari a “big fool in contemporary politics”. “As an ally in the government, we still expect Tejaswi to offer a point-by-point clarification before the public, who have a right to know. We will not let this issue taint our party and our leader,” said JD(U) spokesperson Rajiv Ranjan.
BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi said if Nitish Kumar did not want to remove Tejashwi from his cabinet, he must say it in public. “The chief minister should make his stand clear as soon as possible to save Bihar’s people the confusion,” the former Bihar deputy chief minister said.