PATNA: RJD neta Tejashwi Prasad Yadav on Sunday rejected any chances of CM Nitish Kumar returning to the fold of opposition Grand Alliance, declaring that they wouldn’t welcome him any more. He said that the opposition alliance was now directly headed for assembly elections.
Interacting with reporters after staging a dharna to protest the non-implementation of 65% reservation for OBC, EBC, dalits and adivasis in Bihar, Tejashwi lost his cool when asked if his alliance would welcome Nitish again in case he returned. “Don’t talk nonsense; we are directly headed for assembly elections,” he shouted at the reporters, asking, “Who gives you these ideas? Why would we welcome him? There is no offer, don’t talk nonsense.” Warning the media against diverting the issue in another direction, Tejashwi asked why they would welcome the person who deprived the reserved classes of their reservation rights.
Further, he said that only he and his father, RJD chief Lalu Prasad, were authorised to take decisions about extending any offers to the political persons. “Ab koi offer nahin diya jayega…Ab sidhe chunav hoga,” he said.
Earlier, Tejashwi led the RJD’s dharna against the state govt’s failure to implement 65% quota in govt jobs and educational institutions in light of Bihar’s recent caste survey, saying its non-implementation was causing them a reservation loss of 16%. “My question is that we created so many jobs, conducted a caste census, increased reservation so that OBCs, EBCs, dalits and adivasi community people get jobs, but the NDA govt is a reservation thief and anti-quota,” he said, addressing the dharna.
Stating that the majority community wouldn’t tolerate the “tampering with reservations” any more, the leader of opposition in the state assembly said due to the non-implementation of the 65% reservation limit increased by the previous Grand Alliance govt, candidates from scheduled caste/tribe, backward and most backward classes are now facing a direct loss of 16% reservation, due to which more than 50,000 youths from these classes have lost their jobs in the state.
He also wondered about the way the CM doesn’t talk about reservation any more and added that now the question papers of every competitive exam are getting leaked. “During our 17-month-old govt, no incident of question paper leak was reported,” he claimed, adding now Nitish is not in a position to run the state. “The BJP doesn’t have its face while Nitish has slipped into a state of unconsciousness. No one knows what he will do next,” Tejashwi alleged.
