PATNA: Bihar's leader of Opposition from RJD Tejashwi Yadav on Sunday threatened to lay siege around CM Nitish Kumar and deputy CMs Tar Kishor Prasad and Renu Devi's residences if the budget session of the state assembly is truncated and does not work to its full lenght.
Talking to the media on Sunday, Tejashwi Yadav said that the Mahagatvandhan (Grand Alliance) will form a human chain across Bihar on January 30 in protest of the newly introduced farm bills and in solidarity with the farmers protesting against it. The leaders and supporters of RJD, Congress and other allies of Mahagatvandhan will form the human chain showing a collective solidarity to the farmers,
Tejashwi Yadav said that the speaker has requested that the upcoming budget session of the assembly be reduced due to possible vaccination drive for COVID-19 in March. “I have requested the speaker to hold a meeting with all the parties. Why is the government running away from questions”, he said, adding that how will the peoples' representatives ask questions if the session does not work to its full length.
"Now they are trying to tell us that just 243 members of the House cannot assemble because of the pandemic. They are talking about vaccination. Can they give a tentative date of its commencement? Do they have even a faint idea as to how many vials of the shot will be made available to Bihar?" Yadav asked mockingly.
Underscoring that legislative business had suffered in the state over the past one year because of the pandemic, Yadav said if the upcoming session was shortened "we will boycott it and gherao the residences of the Chief Minister and the deputy CMs".
Accusing CM Nitish Kumar of ruining the state, he said that Nitish Kumar has virtually become a bargainer instead of a leader remaining a leader. “You can see how he treated George Fernandes, Digvijay Singh and RJD in the past. He had managed to come into power through backdoor and now is trying to remain in power”, Tejashwi alleged.
He said that 50 farmers, who were opposed to the agricultural bills, have lost their lives as martyrs. “But neither the central government nor the Nitish government has anything to help farmers. Farmers of Bihar are forced to sell paddy at cheap prices. Paddy is not being procured at MSP. The government is making the farmers poor”, he said.
(With PTI inputs)