New Delhi: The proverbial guillotine hanging over Bihar deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav’s head seems to have been stayed for the time being.
Bihar chief minister and JD(U) chief Nitish Kumar, while insisting that his deputy resigns before the state Assembly session begins on July 28 so that his government is not caught in an embarrassing position in the House, has offered the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) a middle path. He would like Yadav junior to put in his papers after giving a point-by-point rebuttal of the charges against him, but his resignation will not be accepted, thus giving a symbolic boost to the CM’s incorruptible image while keeping the Mahagathbandan intact.
Tejashwi Yadav, the younger son of RJD chief Lalu Prasad, is named in an alleged case of land-for-hotels scandal.
Sources said that Tejashwi Yadav met Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Monday evening and was seeking legal opinion on his possible line of defence.
His meeting with the Congress president came just two days after Mr Kumar, who was in Delhi to attend the farewell dinner for former President Pranab Mukherjee, had an hour-long discussion with senior JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav, who has been in favour of continuing with the JD(U)-RJD-Congress Mahagathbandhan in the state.
It was at this meeting that the plan was thrashed out and put before RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav. It is learnt that Sharad Yadav also spoke with Lalu Prasad after this.
Before this compromise formula was discussed, both Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad Yadav were in a belligerent mood. While the Bihar chief minister was adamant that Tejashwi Yadav put in his papers, the RJD chief was in no mood to oblige.
A senior JD(U) leader said the Bihar CM was immensely concerned about his image getting tarnished, and even the Congress was on the same page as it was his clean image which was a major factor towards the Grand Alliance winning in Bihar.
However, the Congress is not taking a stand on this as the RJD chief has conveyed that the party should first ensure the resignation of its scam-tainted Himachal Pradesh chief minister Veerbhadra Singh before asking for his son’s resignation.
Mr Kumar has been sending mixed signals to the ruling NDA and the Opposition. While he supported NDA presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind, for vice-presidential elections he backed the Opposition candidate, Gopalkrishna Gandhi.
