Is Janata Dal (United) under threat by its ally BJP? Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Yadav believes so. And he has an advice for Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to save the JDU. His son Nishant Kumar should enter Bihar politics.
The Bihar opposition leader's remarks come as speculations are rife about Nishant's political entry ahead of the upcoming Bihar assembly elections in November. Nishant recently urged voters to back his father and JDU supremo Nitish in the polls. He said his father, Nitish Kumar, was "hundred per cent fit".
However, Tejashwi dismissed Nishant's comments, saying his father and former Bihar chief minister, Lalu Prasad Yadav, was fitter than rival Nitish.
Pointing out that Lalu Prasad implemented the Mandal Commission recommendations in Bihar when he was CM, Tejashwi said, "Nobody has done as much as Lalu-ji for the unprivileged."
He said would want Nishant to get married and be happy if he joined politics. The RJD leader said this could revive JDU as Nitish has been "hijacked" by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He alleged that Modi had earlier raised doubts about Nitish's DNA while his other allies, LJP's Chirag Paswan and Hindustani Awam Morcha's Jitan Ram Manjhi, questioned his mental health.
Talking about PM Modi's Bhagalpur visit this week, Tejashwi said that since BJP is done with Delhi elections, they will all now rush to Bihar. "They don't care about Bihar, they just want to grab power," he said.
Earlier, Nitish's close aide and Bihar minister Vijay Kumar Chaudhary expressed JDU's readiness to face elections any time. This sparked rumours about holding an early election. Talking about the speculations, Tejashwi said the NDA might have entered an alliance with the poll panel, just like BJP uses the Enforcement Directorate and the Central Bureau of Investigation.