Tejashwi faces corruption charges must not become leader of

opposition: JD(U)
    Patna, Nov 21 (PTI) The ruling JD(U) in Bihar on
Saturday demanded that RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav refrain from
becoming the leader of the opposition since his name was
involved in a number of corruption and criminal cases.
    The JD(U)'s demand came two days after party leader
Mewa Lal Chaudhary resigned as the state's education minister
over a corruption taint.
    At a joint press conference here, JD(U)'s state
president Vashishtha Narayan Singh, working president Ashok
Choudhary and spokesmen Sanjay Singh, Neeraj Kumar and Ajay
Alok slammed Yadav for having targeted Chief Minister Nitish
Kumar over appointment of Mewa Lal Chaudhary as the education
minister.
    Shortly after Mewa Lal Chaudhary resigned, Yadav had
attacked the chief minister for inducting into his cabinet a
"corrupt" person.
    Chaudhary has been named in an FIR lodged three years
ago in connection with irregularities in recruitments at an
agriculture university in Bhagalpur district while he was its
Vice Chancellor during 2010-15.
    The JD(U) leaders asserted that the resignation of
Chaudhary, barely two days after he was allocated the
portfolio, was in line with the chief minister's "zero
tolerance for crime, corruption and communalism".
    They said that unlike the clean record of the chief
minister who is also the JD(U), Yadav carried the taint of a
number of cases "lodged under various sections of the IPC and
even SC/ST Act".
    They pointed out that the state government has asked
the superintendent of police of the district concerned to go
ahead with the prosecution, which proved that Chaudhary, an
MLA of the ruling party, was not being shielded. The
governor's nod is awaited in the matter.
    The JD(U) leaders alleged that while filing his
nomination papers from Raghopur assembly seat, Yadav had not
disclosed full details of cases in which he was named and
urged the Election Commission to take note of the "deliberate
omission". PTI NAC
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(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)