‘Don’t know what forced father figure Nitish to dump Mahagathbandhan’

PATNA: RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav on Monday said he always considered Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar as a “father figure”, and wondered what forced him to ditch the ‘Mahagathbandhan’ and return to the BJP-led NDA.

Taking part in the debate on the confidence motion moved by the Kumar-led NDA government in the Assembly, Yadav also taunted Nitish for having been sworn in “for a record ninth time, and also for the third time within a five-year term, something which has no precedent”.

“I always considered Nitish Kumar as ‘Dashrath’ (a character from the epic ‘Ramayan’). I don’t know what reasons forced him to ditch the ‘Mahagathbandhan’,” the former deputy CM said.

The Rashtriya Janata Dal, which has lost power in Bihar, on Monday received a jolt after at least three of its members sat on the ruling party benches in the Bihar Assembly.

RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav raised a point of order, taking objection to party MLAs Chetan Anand, Neelam Devi and Prahlad Yadav sitting among members of the ruling NDA, ahead of voting on a no-confidence motion against Speaker Awadh Bihari Chaudhary. However, no ruling was given on the point of order by Deputy Speaker Maheshwar Hazari, who was in the Chair.

Yadav, who had been restrained ever since the upheaval a fortnight ago when Kumar made a return to the NDA fold, vented spleen on the floor of the state Assembly.

“The BJP was scared of the ‘Mahagathbandhan’ government in Bihar... Can Prime Minister Narendra Modi guarantee that Nitish Kumar will not do another volte-face?” he said.

“I feel bad for JD(U) MLAs because they will have to go to the people and answer. If someone asks you why Nitish Kumar took oath three times, what would you say? Earlier you used to criticise them (BJP) and now you are praising them, what will you say?” said the RJD leader.

Yadav called himself “nephew” of Kumar and asserted that he would stop the BJP in Bihar.