Tejashwi to say ‘sorry’ to Gandhi for sharing power with Nitish; mum on CBI’s charge

The ex-deputy CM said he would visit Motihari in East Champaran to sit in front of Mahatma Gandhi’s statue to seek his ‘forgiveness’ for working with CM Kumar, his erstwhile boss, who had proven to be an ‘RSS man’.

Continuing his offensive against CM Nitish Kumar, following the latter’s decision to jettison the 20-month-old grand alliance government and form a new one with the BJP, last week, leader of the opposition Tejashwi Prasad Yadav , on Tuesday, accused Kumar of being an adherent to the ‘divisive’ RSS ideology.

RJD leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav speaking to media persons, in Patna on Wednesday.(AP Dube/HT)

Expressing ‘regret’ for serving under Kumar as deputy CM for 20 months, Yadav, who lost his ministerial position because Kumar chose to resign as CM, causing the GA government to fall last week, stated he would visit Motihari soon to sit in front of Mahatma Gandhi’s statue to seek his ‘forgiveness’ for associating with Kumar.

“I will seek forgiveness from the Mahatma for not realising that Kumar is an RSS man I had shared dais with him when he launched the centenary celebration of Mahatma’s 1917 Champaran Satyagraha, earlier this year. But I was wrong to trust him,” the RJD leader said. 

Tejashwi has been in the eye of a storm since the CBI, last month, lodged an FIR against him, his father, RJD chief Lalu Prasad and his mother, Rabri Devi, for their alleged involvement in the ‘land for railways hotels’ lease scam from the time Lalu was railways minister (2004-09).

Tejashwi has been named in the FIR as a beneficiary of the scam in which railways hotels at Puri and Ranchi were leased to private parties, allegedly in lieu of gift of prime land in Patna. The land ended up coming under the ownership of Tejashwi and Rabri Devi.

CM Kumar had asked Tejashwi to “clear the air” on the CBI charge against him but he did not, leading to the collapse of the Mahagathbandhan government, when Nitish Kumar resigned as chief minister last month and formed a new government along with the BJP. Tejashwi has yet to clarify how he became owner of the land.

Tejashwi said Kumar may have made the transition from ‘Hey Ram to Jai Shri Ram” (Gandhi to BJP) smoothly, but he would always face flak for robbing the people of their mandate, by forming government with those (BJP-led NDA), who were rejected by people in 2015 polls.

“Janata unko hamesha Ram Ram karegi (people would always steeer clear of him),” he said. 

Calling Nitish ‘arrogant’ and ‘self- obsessed’, Tejashwi also took potshots at Nitish’s previous decisions of leaving BJP to join GA and then again going back to BJPto retain power. “ Nitish is living in an illusion that he would remain CM till his last breath. People will soon oust him,” he said. 

“If the BJP believes Nitish’s words about the present government’s longevity, it should take an affidavit from the chief minister. But I feel this government will not last for long as BJP has not forgotten the betrayral by JD(U) in 2013, ” he said. 

In June 2013, the JD (U) had walked out of the NDA, realising the then Gujarat CM Narendra Modi’s appointment as the head of the BJP’s election campaign committee had placed him in line to become the party’s PM candidate for the 2014 Lok Sabha poll,

Tejashwi said the JD (U)’s alliance with the BJP was pre-planned and the plea that he did not clarify on graft charges was just an excuse for CM Kumar to break the grand alliance. “ I have been used as a pawn,” he claimed.

He alleged CM Kumar had worked at the BJP’s behest to break the Mahagatbandhan, in face of efforts being made by RJD chief Lalu Prasad to forge opposition unity at the national level, to take on PM Modi in the 2019 Lok Sabha poll.

Tejashwi targeted PM Narendra Modi for maintaining silence on the leaked Panama papers which showed several BJP bigwigs, actors and business tycoons had black money stashed abroad.

Accusing Kumar of paying lip service on combating corruptio, he wondered why the CM had inducted a large number of tainted ministers. Kumar himself had a murder charge against him, he reiterated.

About the new government’s fresh inquiry against the sand mafia, Tejashwi said he was not one to perturbed by such acts of the government. “ We have done no wrong. This is sign of negative politics”, he said.