Tejashwi Yadav Calls Kharge Controversy a Storm in a Teacup

Patna: Political reactions have grown louder following a controversial statement by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. BJP leaders have demanded that Kharge apologise, but Tejashwi Yadav, the RJD leader and Leader of Opposition in the Bihar Legislative Assembly, has said the matter is being unnecessarily inflated.

At a media interaction in Patna, Tejashwi Yadav said a small issue was being turned into a major controversy. He said those in government were not paying any attention to education, health, employment, irrigation or solving people's problems. In his view, the government was not doing anything meaningful for the citizens of Bihar.

He also said cases of crime and corruption were increasing in the state, yet no action was being taken. Tejashwi Yadav argued that since the current government was formed, no concrete work had been carried out.

Discussing the action against Mokama MLA Anant Singh, he said that during the trust vote, three of his party's legislators, Neelam Devi, Anand Mohan's son and Prahlad Yadav, had supported the government. He said the party had already cautioned that those who backed that side would eventually discover what awaited them. Today, Anand Mohan was in distress, Prahlad Yadav had not even been given a ticket, and Anant Singh's condition was there for all to see. Tejashwi Yadav said all three had betrayed the party and that the warning issued to them was now coming true.

He went on to claim that another prediction of his had proved right, namely that Nitish Kumar was in an unconscious state and that only his face had been used during the elections. He also said that his assertion that the JD(U) would be wiped out after the elections was also turning out to be accurate.

Tejashwi Yadav described the double engine government as a fraud, alleging that those in power were deceiving the public.

On the Kharge row, Congress leader Danish Ali said the statement must be viewed in its full context. He said that anyone in the country involved in forming a government through vote theft, whoever they may be, would face action and be sent to jail. He added that the campaign against vote theft, being carried out under Rahul Gandhi's leadership within the bounds of the Constitution to protect democracy, could not be sidetracked.

Sougata Roy, MP from Mamata Banerjee's faction, came out in defence of Kharge. He said Kharge had not said anything wrong. Roy noted that Kharge is a senior leader who is 83 years old, and that when someone said something to him during a meeting, he gave a response. He asked what was wrong with that and said he did not understand the fuss.