The rift in Bihar’s ruling “grand alliance” appeared to have widened as the Janata Dal (United) said on Friday that deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav should resign if his family fails to explain the source of funding for properties mired in an alleged scam.
The JD(U)’s demand, dismissed by RJD chief Lalu Prasad, followed efforts by Congress chief Sonia Gandhi to broker a truce among the two allies.
Chief minister Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) rules the state with the RJD and Congress, which together defeated the BJP in the 2015 assembly election.
But RJD-JD(U) ties were strained after Prasad and his 26-year-old younger son, Tejashwi, were named in a land for-hotels scandal, and the CBI raided their homes and other properties last week. The alleged scam is from Prasad’s stint as railway minister from 2004 to 2009.
The RJD chief, who was in Ranchi attending a fodder scam trial, snapped at a media contingent eager to know of his next move. “Tejashwi was elected by the people, not by those asking for his resignation,” he said. His son had said he won’t step down.
Prasad returned to Patna with a court waiver of the hearing on Saturday and met top RJD leaders at his 10 Circular Road home to finalise the next step.
Congress president Gandhi spoke to CM Kumar and Prasad to find a middle path to defuse the crisis and dispatched state chief Ashok Choudhary to play mediator. The JD(U) stuck to its stand and party spokesperson Neeraj Kumar compared assets of the chief minister and Prasad.
Source: Hindustan times
