New Delhi: The Congress is struggling to persuade RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav to ask his son Tejashwi Yadav to step down as Bihar deputy chief minister — a precondition set by chief minister Nitish Kumar to keep alive the grand alliance in the state, sources said.
Despite the pressure mounted by the Congress, Lalu Yadav has ruled out Tejashwi Yadav’s resignation and indicated that the Congress should first get rid of its own scam-tainted Himachal Pradesh chief minister Virbhadra Singh, sources said.
Mr Kumar wants Tejashwi Yadav, whose name has surfaced in graft cases, to quit the Bihar cabinet to uphold probity in public life.
Sources said that Mr Kumar has in a series of meetings with top Congress leaders, including party vice-president Rahul Gandhi, said that he will not let the Bihar grand alliance go the same way as UPA II, which was plagued by allegations of corruption.
Mr Kumar, who met Mr Gandhi on Saturday, is understood to have told him that he wanted Tejashwi Yadav to explain to the people his defence on the corruption charges against him.
The Bihar chief minister met Tejashwi Yadav on Tuesday last week but was not satisfied with his response to the corruption charges.
The Congress and a section of the JD(U), led by senior leader Sharad Yadav, are in hectic talks to save the grand alliance in Bihar, which has come under strain since
Mr Kumar broke ranks with the Opposition to support NDA presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind.
However, Mr Kumar maintained that his support to Mr Kovind was a one-time affair and supported the Opposition’s vice-presidential candidate Gopalkrishna Gandhi for the August 5 poll.
Sources said that Mr Kumar does not want his government to acquire an image similar to that of UPA-II in which Manmohan Singh was perceived to be an honest head, surrounded by many scams.
Recently, raids were conducted by both the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) at properties belonging to Lalu Yadav and his family members. Tejashwi Yadav. The RJD chief and Tejashwi have alleged BJP-led NDA government’s political vendetta behind the raids by the central agencies.
