RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav praised Nitish Kumar for his “bold decision” to sever ties with the NDA in Biharsaying the BJP was trying to destroy the JD(U) and weaken the former chief minister. Addressing reporters with Nitish Kumar by his side, Tejashwi Yadav said recent political history showed that “BJP destroys parties with whom it forms alliances”.
“The BJP was conspiring against JD(U) and trying to weaken Nitish Kumar. BJP did the same in Maharashtra and Punjab and it was doing the same in Bihar to destroy the JD(U). He took the bold decision and left the NDA,” Tejashwi said.
The RJD leader said all parties and members of Bihar Legislative Assembly, except BJP, had accepted Nitish Kumar as their leader.
Nitish Kumar resigned as Bihar CM and, along with Tejashwi, met Governor Phagu Chauhan after being elected as leader of the ‘Mahagathbandhan’ (Grand Alliance) to stake claim for the top job in the state once again.
Launching a scathing attack on BJP, Tejashwi said the saffron party knows only to intimidate and buy people.
“Across the Hindi heartland, BJP does not have any alliance partner. History tells that BJP destroys the parties with whom it forms an alliance,” the RJD leader said.
“JP Nadda said they will end regional parties. BJP knows only to intimidate and buy people. All of us wanted the BJP’s agenda shouldn’t be implemented in Bihar. We all know Laluji stopped ‘rath’ of Advani ji, we won’t relent at any cost,” ANI quoted Tejashwi as saying.
Nitish Kumar said he submitted a list of 164 MLAs to the Governor and would form the government with the Grand Alliance, which comprises of seven political parties.
“Now, we will form the government with Mahagathbandhan and we have the support of 165 MLAs. The Mahagathbandhan comprises 7 political parties. So we will run the government with the support of seven parties in Bihar,” Kumar said.
When asked why he resigned as Chief Minister, Kumar said, “After the result of the 2020 Assembly election of Bihar, our party had won only 43 seats and I wasn’t ready to become the Chief Minister. When I was ruling in coalition with BJP, its leaders were saying many things which I did not like.”
Earlier in the day, Nitish Kumar broke his alliance with the BJP following a meeting of JD(U) leaders and legislators. He reportedly told his party members that he had been driven against the wall by the BJP, PTI reported.
Kumar said BJP had been trying to weaken his JD(U), first by propping up Chirag Paswan’s rebellion and later through the party’s former national president RCP Singh.