On the floor of assembly Tejashwi tries to get even with Nitish

    Patna, Nov 27 (PTI) Bihar Chief Minister Nitish
Kumars personal attack on his arch rival Lalu Prasad during
the recently held assembly elections evoked a visceral
response from the latters son and Tejashwi Yadav, the Leader
of the Opposition, on the floor of the state assembly on
Friday.
    Yadav expressed righteous anger over a speech made by
the JD(U) chief in which he had made a reference to the RJD
supremos large family, without mentioning them by name, and
linked it to alleged preference of Prasad, on having a male
offspring.
    "I hope the chief minister is aware that the youngest
child of my parents was a girl, born after two sons", said
Yadav, whose elder brother Tej Pratap Yadav is also a member
of the state assembly and younger sister Rajlaxmi Yadav is
married in the family of Samajwadi Party president Mulayam
Singh Yadav.
    "Now let us come to the fact that the chief minister
has only one son. Could we apply his own yardsticks and say
that he did not have another out of fear that it could be a
girl", remarked Yadav.
    The young RJD leader, who was taking part in the
debate on the governors address to the newly constituted
assembly, expressed dismay that while he focused on "peoples
issues" during the elections, the ruling NDA chose to do
otherwise.
    "I was speaking about jobs. And I bow before the
people of Bihar who voted for us and helped us emerge as the
single largest party. But for manipulations by pliant
officials posted in places where results of tightly contested
elections were overturned, we might have got the chance to
fulfil our promises", Yadav alleged.
    "But my opponents had other priorities. A person no
less than the prime minister indulged in name calling", said
Yadav, in an oblique reference to the rallies of Prime
Minister Narendra Modi who coined the expression "jungle raj
ke yuvraaj" to berate the RJD leader.
    "I do not like to make snide remarks against my
elders. This goes against the values I have been brought up
with. I have always addressed the honourable chief minister,
even in speeches uttered in the public, as chacha (uncle)",
said Yadav.
    "But my point is, does it behove a chief minister to
make such utterances", he asked with a rhetorical flourish to
which Nitish Kumar responded with a charitable laugh.
    He also vowed to keep the NDA on its toes, alleging
that it was high on rhetoric but lacked "seriousness".
    Turning towards Speaker Vijay Kumar Sinha, he said,
"you asked members of this House to wear masks which shows
your seriousness about the pandemic. I always carry a mask and
make it a point to wear it too. But the seriousness or the
lack of it on part of this government is self-evident".
    "The last time the House had met, it was a day-long
session. It was unanimously resolved that a committee on
prevention of the spread of the contagion will be set up. The
then Speaker Vijay Kumar Chaudhary is seated right here, now
in his capacity as a member of the cabinet. The chief
minister, who was supposed to walk the talk, is also here. You
can find out from them how serious they are", Yadav added. PTI
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(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)