“They have made Bharat Ratna a deal…You don’t respect by awarding Bharat Ratna, you strike a deal…,” Bihar’s former Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav said in the Bihar Assembly on Monday. He said this while hitting out at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for making this “deal” in exchange for votes.
The RJD leader even congratulated Chief Minister Nitish Kumar “for scripting history by taking oath for the ninth consecutive time”. He said, “We have not witnessed such a wonderful scene of taking oath for the third time in one term.”
Yadav launched a scathing attack on Nitish Kumar for repeatedly switiching alliances. Nitish Kumar had earlier severed ties with the NDA in 2022 when he resigned as chief minister and joined the Mahagathbandhan with Lalu Yadav’s RJD, the Congress and the Left parties.
“Everyone wants to know what exactly happened that forces you to take this decision,” Yadav said. He also recalled the time when Nitish Kumar had snapped ties with the NDA in 2022.
“You had then said that we are leaving the NDA because attempts were being to break our party…can (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi guarantee that Nitish Kumar won’t flip again,” former Bihar deputy chief minister said in the assembly.
Tejashwi Yadav said he always considered Nitish Kumar to be a father figure. “I always considered Nitish Kumar as ‘Dashrath’ (character from the epic ‘Ramayan’). I don’t know what reasons forced him to ditch the ‘Mahagathbandhan’,” the former deputy CM said.
Nitish Kumar is set to face a floor test in the assembly on Monday. The trust vote was necessitated as Nitish Kumar took oath as the chief minister of Bihar for the record ninth time last month after junking his alliance with the RJD and again forming a government with the BJP.
Here’s your comprehensive 3-minute summary of all the things Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in her Budget speech: Click to download!
Download The Mint News App to get Daily Market Updates & Live Business News.
Published: 12 Feb 2024, 02:22 PM IST
