The Janata Dal (United) is looking for an honourable settlement, preferably mediated by the Congress, to its escalating row with the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) over multiple corruption charges faced by Lalu Prasad and his family.
While Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has made it amply clear to the RJD that Lalu’s son and Deputy Chief Minister Tejaswi Yadav, who has been named in an FIR by the CBI in a land-for-contract scam, has to quit, the latter too has hardened his stand and refused to do Nitish’s bidding.
The RJD on Thursday let its minor functionaries warn the JD(U) against taking any tough stand on Tejaswi. Taking his cue from Lalu, RJD MLA from Maner Bhai Virendra reminded Nitish that he depends on their support to remain in government. He also pointed out that the RJD has a larger number of seats in the Grand Alliance.
“Let us not forget that the RJD has 80 MLAs. The Grand Alliance will function in the way we want it to function,” said Virendra. “The RJD is standing behind Tejaswi Yadav. There is no question of him quitting.”
Speaking to BusinessLine , a senior JD(U) leader said it would be ideal if Sonia Gandhi holds a meeting with Nitish and Lalu, calms tempers and works out a settlement.
“We used to have Harikishan Singh Surjeet (former CPI(M) general secretary) who functioned as the elder statesman of the Opposition. The role should now be played by Sonia Gandhi. After all, the Congress is part of the alliance. Lalu is refusing to listen to anything and there is no way Nitish is going to tolerate this kind of corruption. We need someone to work out a middle path,” the JD(U) leader said.
According to him, the Bihar CM would “rather resign himself” than be branded as someone who is encouraging and patronising corruption.
That is exactly the line the BJP has started following of late. In an interview to BusinessLine earlier this week, the Leader of Opposition in Bihar Assembly Sushil Kumar Modi asked why Nitish “has now become a champion of corruption”. The same Nitish who sacked former Bihar CM Jitan Ram Manjhi over corruption has now followed a lenient line on graft, he added.
Almost on cue, Manjhi, who is now a BJP ally, raised questions over Nitish’s “zero-tolerance model” towards graft, demanding to know if he was trying to “save his own post” by not acting against Tejashwi.
“Nitishji talks about zero-tolerance model in Bihar, but he doesn’t take action just so that he can save his post and the Grand Alliance. Then isn’t that model a farce?” the Hindustani Awam Morcha leader asked.
“Tejashwi, I believe, should have resigned after the corruption charge and lodging of an FIR. But, when he didn’t, the CM should have sacked and dismissed him. But, Nitishji is trying to find a middle ground,” he said.