PATNA: In a sharp reaction to Union minister Ramkripal Yadav’s statement that Bihar’s three-party grand alliance government could collapse any moment, the state’s deputy chief minister Tejaswi Yadav on Wednesday said no amount of BJP’s “tantra mantra” (tantric rituals) could destabilise the “strongly glued” government led by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
Tejaswi, who has been critical of the Centre’s demonetisation exercise, also said his party RJD would re-evaluate the impact and effectiveness of the massive monetary scheme after the 50-day period sought by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is over.
Ramkripal Yadav, the Union minister of State for rural development, had said in Basti, Uttar Pradesh, on Tuesday that the alliance between Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) and Lalu Prasad Yadav’s RJD is a “bemel gathbandhan” (disorderly alliance) and that the government the two parties are running for a year in alliance with Congress could collapse any moment. “There is a grand war in this grand alliance behind the curtains,” the BJP leader had said. Ramkripal Yadav, however, had for long been the right-hand man of Lalu Prasad Yadav till the last Lok Sabha polls, when he defected to BJP after RJD denied him a ticket.
“The grand alliance government in Bihar is doing alright despite efforts by vested interests to shake it. No amount of tantra mantra by such leaders would destabilise our government, and it would complete its full term,” said Tejaswi Yadav, the younger son of RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, without naming the Union minister. “There is unity like chattan (hard floor) in the alliance,” he added.
The deputy chief minister also said the people of Bihar and elsewhere in the country are still reeling under the impacts of demonetisation. “But we will say anything more on it only after the 50-day period sought by the PM is over. Only a few days are left and then we will re-evaluate demonetisation,” he added.