Claiming that there is no crisis in Bihar’s Mahagathbandhan, Lalu Prasad Yadav asserted that his son and Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav will not step down, since Chief Minister Nitish Kumar never asked him to.
Addressing the media after chairing a meeting of RJD MLAs on 26 July, Lalu said:
There’s no bitterness between me and Nitish. I spoke to him yesterday (25 July). The media trying to crack our alliance.
Nitish Didn’t Ask For Tejashwi's Resignation: Lalu
Lalu said that the Bihar CM had not asked for Tejashwi’s resignation. He further added:
We have formed the grand alliance, made Nitish CM. Why will we break the alliance? Kumar is leader of the grand alliance. We will not tolerate any disrespect towards him.
BJP Is Trying to Break Us: Tejashwi Yadav
Sushil Modi had likened the state chief minister to a "pilot of a hijacked plane" earlier on Wednesday. Responding to Sushil Modi’s comments, Tejashwi said:
Sushil Modi is not even a Bihari, he is an outsider, so these people don’t care about Bihar’s development or its people.
On the issue of resignation, Tejashwi said:
I was never asked to resign. It’s RSS-BJP which wants to break the grand alliance, people can see through their conspiracy. Amit Shah had said he wants to see the BJP in power in every state, so they are trying all means to break us.
Amid the impending crisis in the grand alliance, Kumar's party Janata Dal United and Lalu's Rashtriya Janata Dal are looking to hold separate meetings on 26 July, to decide Tejashwi's fate in the Cabinet.
The political scandal began with a CBI case against Tejashwi and his family over a corruption case. While Lalu maintains that the allegations against his son are a political conspiracy by the ruling BJP at the Centre, CM Kumar has declared on more than one occasion that his cabinet has no tolerance for corruption.
According to an NDTV report, Kumar wants Tejashwi to quit before the state assembly's monsoon session ensues this Friday. The meeting was initially scheduled for 27 July, reportedly, but was brought forward when it was announced that the RJD would be holding its own meeting on Wednesday, before Lalu left for Ranchi for a hearing in the fodder scam case.
Kumar also enlisted the support of the Congress party, the third member in the grand alliance, to convince Lalu to pull his son out of office.
Speaking to NDTV earlier, Lalu had said he wouldn't oblige "the BJP and like-minded people who are asking for Tejashwi's resignation," an apparent accusation that Kumar was colluding with the BJP.
He, however, did add that he wouldn't let the grand alliance suffer.
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