PATNA: Bihar’s ruling JD(U) on Thursday trained its guns at the Opposition RJD’s newly appointed national vice-president and former chief minister Rabri Devi, asking her and her son Tejaswi Yadav to present a list of the achievements of RJD’s 15-year rule in the state.
In an open letter addressed to Devi, who is the wife of jailed RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, JD(U) spokesperson and MLC Neeraj Kumar said she must ask Tejaswi to tell the people about the achievements of RJD rule and the benami properties in the family members’ names during his statewide yatra.
Tejaswi Yadav, 29, who is the leader of Opposition in Bihar Assembly, is set to begin his ‘Samvidhan Bachao Nyay Yatra’ (campaign for saving the Constitution and justice) from Friday. RJD leaders dismissed JD(U)’s reaction as trepidation due to Tejaswi’s rising popularity in the state.
“You (Rabri Devi) must ask Tejaswi to give detailed list of the development work undertaken by the governments led by his parents. Whichever district he visits, he must tell the people there about the criminal incidents, development of educational facilities and welfare work for Dalits and EBCs,” wrote Neeraj Kumar.
JD(U), which considers the RJD rule in Bihar between 1990 and 2005 as one of the darkest periods in the state’s history, had contested the 2015 Assembly polls in alliance with RJD. The JD(U)-RJD-Congress grand alliance won the polls handsomely and ruled for 20 months till Chief Minister Nitish Kumar of JD(U) walked out and allied afresh with BJP in July 2017.
Rabri Devi, who served as CM between 1997 and 2005, was elevated as RJD’s national vice-president in a reshuffle on Wednesday. With Lalu lodged in jail after his conviction in two fodder scam cases, she is going to lead the party for the time being.
“It is clear that both JD(U) and BJP are in panic because of Tejaswi Yadav’s statewide yatra. After hijacking the people’s mandate and conspiring to send Lalu Prasad Yadav to jail, they are now afraid of Tejaswi’s rising popularity,” said RJD legislator and spokesperson Shakti Singh Yadav.