Ever since the CBI registered an FIR against Bihar deputy chief minister and son of former chief minister Lalu Prasad, Tejashwi Yadav, in an alleged land-for-hotels scandal last week, the BJP, has been demanding his resignation. While the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) remained adamant, saying “no question of Tejashwi’s resignation, surprisingly, the three allies — Janata Dal United (JD-U), RJD and Congress — are yet to sit together to find a solution on this issue.
The differences between Bihar’s ruling allies RJD and JD(U) sharpened Saturday with Tejashwi giving a government event a miss in Patna where chief minister Nitish Kumar was present as scheduled. According to The Indian Express, the occasion was the celebration of the first anniversary of the "Kushal Yuva Karyakram" focusing on the government’s digital initiatives. While Tejashwi was a guest of honour at the event, his nameplate was found to be covered up.
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On Saturday, the JDU called a meeting of Bihar MLAs at the official residence of the chief minister on Sunday, according to ANI. It's not clear yet whether the meeting will be on the current political crisis in the state.
“It is just a matter of time before either of the leaders decide whether to remain united or split," said BJP leader S Prakash.
So, is the “Mahagathbandhan”, which witnessed a historic victory while taking on the “Modi wave” two years back, actually heading towards a split?
There has been no word from any parties of the grand alliance in this regard but if reports are to be believed, things are looking gloomy for the alliance -- despite Congress president Sonia Gandhi's intervention into the crisis. She reportedly spoke to Bihar CM and Lalu over phone on the ongoing rift.
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A Hindi news channel, quoting sources, even reported that after Gandhi’s intervention to save the Mahagathbandan it was decided that Tejashwi will submit his resignation after presidential poll scheduled to be held on July 17.
In a tweet, Tejashwi made it clear that he is not resigning. He even claimed a section of the media has been "spreading lies" of him resigning.
Lalu also said, “The Vidhan Mandal of our party has taken a decision that Tejashwi Yadav will not resign...An FIR is not sufficient reason for the resignation."
The 80 MLAs of RJD in Patna unanimously decided to back Tejashwi and his father, party chief Lalu Prasad, who is facing charges.
But the rift between the alliance partners in the state seemed to have widened after the JD(U) urged Tejashwi to come out clean on the corruption charges imposed by the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate. It also asked Lalu to declare his assets and reveal the source of income.
JD(U) chief spokesman Sanjay Singh also tried to put some pressure on the Lalu-led RJD, saying the party should provide facts and not "display arrogance" of having 80 MLAs in the 243-member Bihar assembly.
"The RJD, which is showing arrogance of 80 MLAs, should not forget that it was reduced to 22 MLAs in the 2010 state polls and in the election in 2015, their number swelled due to the credible face of Nitish Kumar as the head of the coalition," he told PTI.
The storm of corruption allegations has put the spotlight on the chief minister, who has had several run-ins with the RJD since coming to power two years ago. According to a FirstPost report, Kumar recently chaired a meeting of JD(U) legislators, party office bearers and district unit chiefs where he referred to political sacrifices he made for ensuring probity in public life, something his party has been telling the RJD.
"We are in a Mahagathbandhan, but to maintain the coalition, the responsibility falls on everyone. Hence, he needs to come out clean on the FIR filed by the CBI. We cannot sit silently and the JDU will cannot comprise with its principles. We will take our decision accordingly," said JD(U) leader Ajay Alok on Wednesday.
However, JD(U) spokesperson KC Tyagi said there are no talks of any split in the Mahagathbandhan.
Alleging Kumar of “making friends with undeserving parties”, the BJP dubbed the present situation in the grand alliance as “unfortunate”.
"When Nitish Kumar was in an alliance with the BJP there were no issues during this time. This is a lesson for Nitish, not to make friends with undeserving political parties," BJP’s S Prakash said.
Bihar BJP chief Nityanand Rai also indicated the party is ready to offer outside support to Kumar if he decides to leave the ruling alliance. However, the state unit has made it clear that a final decision in this regard will be made by the BJP central leadership.
The RJD, the JD(U) and the Congress had joined hands ahead of the 2015 Bihar assembly polls, and contested 100, 100 and 50 seats respectively. The three parties won 80, 71 and 27 seats respectively.
