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Tag: RJD

  • RJD to contest Assam polls aiming Hindi-speaking voters: Tejashwi Yadav

    By PTI
    GUWAHATI: Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav on Saturday said his party will contest the upcoming Assam Assembly polls with the “like-minded” parties, a step seen as an effort to eat into votes of the BJP among the Hindi-speaking people.

    Yadav, during his maiden visit to Guwahati, said he has already met Congress Assam chief Ripun Bora and will hold talks with the AIUDF to formalise the alliance.

    “RJD has decided to expand its presence. So, we will participate in Assam Assembly polls. We’re talking to like- minded parties,” he said at a press conference here.

    Yadav, the Leader of the Opposition in Bihar assembly, said apart from the Congress and Lok Sabha MP Badruddin Ajmal-led AIUDF, the RJD is in touch with other smaller parties.

    When asked specifically if RJ will be a part of the Congress-led Grand Alliance in Assam, he said, “We are part of the UPA. Congress is our natural and old ally, and we are together in Bihar. We will join hands with those who believe in the Constitution.”

    “There are around five per cent Hindi-speaking people from Bihar, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Odisha and Chhattisgarh. We have a considerable number of such people in 11 seats, but we’ll contest only where chances of winning are high,” Yadav, younger son of RJD supremo Lalu Prasad, said.

    The Congress, which was in power for 15 years in Assam since 2001, has formed a Grand Alliance with AIUDF, CPI, CPI (M), CPI(ML) and Anchalik Gana Morcha (AGM) to fight the upcoming Assembly election against the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

    Congress and the three Left parties of the grand alliance in Assam are already part of a similar anti-BJP coalition helmed by the RJD in Bihar.

    RJD, which had earlier contested Assam polls alone without any success, is likely to cut into the Hindi-speaking votes that traditionally have been going to the BJP’s kitty.

    The senior RJD leader also said he will travel to other poll-bound states like West Bengal, Kerala and Puducherry to campaign against the BJP and its allies.

    Yadav, who has been chosen as the heir apparent of Lalu Prasad, is taking crucial decisions on behalf of the party in the absence of his father, facing jail term in connection with multi-crore rupees fodder scam in Bihar.

    Attacking the ruling BJP, Yadav said the incumbent government is not concerned about the poor, unemployed youths, economy, farmers, students and women, but the only intention is to remain in power by “talking Hindu-Muslim politics”.

    “All Constitutional institutions like CBI, IT, ED, RBI are no longer independent. These all are working as different cells of the party (BJP). Before the Election Commission announced the poll schedule, the BJP IT cell knew the dates,” he added.

    Citing an example of Bihar, Yadav said all promises made by the saffron party there have failed and crimes in the state have risen 101 per cent during the BJP-JD(U) government and “that is why Assam should not have the BJP government for the second time”.

    “All out attempts should be that the communal forces inimical to the interest of Assam and India do not return to power. We should prevent it with all our forces. With that intention only, we are here in Assam,” he added.

    On the three-phased election schedule in Assam, Yadav said, the state is seeing it for the first time in its history as usually polls take place in two phases here.

    “More number of phases means deteriorating law and order. Then who is to be blamed for this? Isn’t it the present government?” he asked.

    Of the total 126 seats, elections to 47, mostly in Upper Assam, will be held on March 27, while 39 in Barak Valley and Central Assam will go to polls on April 1 and voting in the remaining 40 seats in Lower Assam will be held on April 6.

  • RJD set to try electoral luck in Assam, West Bengal elections 

    Express News Service
    PATNA: Bihar Opposition party Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) is bracing to face the heat in Assam, West Bengal and Kerala Assembly elections. Its leader Tejashwi Yadav reached Guwahati on Friday evening to discuss alliance prospects. 

    Tejashwi Yadav told reporters, “We will have a discussion about the alliance for the upcoming elections with a few local parties in Guwahati. I will also be visiting a temple to seek the blessings of Mother Kamakhya.”

    The party will be fielding candidates in constituencies with Hindi speaking voters in both Assam and West Bengal. 

    RJD spokesperson Mritunjay Tiwari told The New Indian Express that the RJD will field its candidates on seats finalised by leaders and alliance partners.

    Describing its main objective, Tiwari said that they want to “prevent BJP from coming into power in Assam, West Bengal and Kerala by winning seats and supporting the alliance partners.”

    Prospective alliances in the cards for RJD are Badruddin Ajmal in Assam and Mamata Banerjee’s TMC in West Bengal as the parties are in talks. 

    While the doubts on who the party would align with remain, he said “it is sure that RJD will fight in the polls of these states now.”

    However, no final decision has been taken regarding the number of seats to be fought on.

    Recently, RJD had sent the party’s two senior leaders Abdul Bari Siddiqui and Shyam Rajak to West Bengal and Assam to explore their prospects ahead of the polls.

    Leader of Opposition Tejashwi Yadav left for Assam at the end of the proceedings of the sixth day of the budget session of Bihar Legislative Assembly.

    Before leaving for Guwahati, he had strongly attacked Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar over prohibition of liquor.

    Other parties are also jumping into the fray

    Meanwhile, the JDU in-charge for the North East states including Assam, Sanjay Verma, said that his party will also field its candidates in the upcoming Assam and west Bengal elections.

    The LJP, which has suffered a major setback in the Bihar polls, has also announced to contest the polls in West Bengal and other states. 

  • Bihar Assembly adjourned multiple times amid pandemonium by Opposition members

    By PTI
    PATNA: The Bihar Assembly was adjourned multiple times on Wednesday as the opposition members created a ruckus in the House over Social Welfare Minister Madan Sahni’s remark against CPI(ML) legislators.

    Members of CPI(ML) rushed to the well of the House, seeking an apology from the minister for his comment which he made while replying to the call attention notice of Mahboob Alam, a legislator of the party, on the issue of alleged delay in payment of old age pension through direct benefit transfer.

    The CPI(ML) legislators were joined by the RJD and Congress members in their agitation and shouted slogans against the NDA government in the state.

    Speaker Vijay Kumar Sinha ordered that the objectionable words used by Sahni against the opposition members would not be in the record.

    Parliamentary Affairs Minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary was seen trying to pacify the agitating members.

    He expressed regret on behalf of the government for Sahni’s remark.

    Choudhary said the government wants to assure all the members of the House that it had no intention to disregard any legislator.

    Since it was the last item in the list of business in the pre-lunch session, the speaker adjourned the House till 2 pm.

    The speaker convened an all-party meeting in his chamber during the lunch break to resolve the issue but the opposition members refused to pay heed to his request.

    When the members reassembled for the post-lunch session, the opposition MLAs continued their protest and demanded that the minister should be asked to resign.

    They also alleged that Sahni made his comment against CPI(ML) members deliberately.

    As the Speaker’s request to members seeking their cooperation failed to yield any result, he adjourned the House for around 20 minutes till 3 pm.

    Meanwhile, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tarkishore Prasad presented the second supplementary budget of Rs 19,370.03 crore for the current fiscal in the post-lunch session, amid the din in the House.

    Prasad, who holds the finance portfolio, earmarked Rs 9,530.27 crore for annual schemes and Rs 9,399.98 crore for the establishment and committed expenditure.

    As soon as the legislators assembled again after 3 pm, the noisy scene was witnessed and the speaker adjourned the House till 11 am on Thursday.

  • Bihar assembly witnesses different shades of Nitish Kumar as he lashes out at Opposition

    By PTI
    PATNA: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday strongly defended his government against accusations of maladministration and berated the opposition for its allegations but making itself scarce whenever it was countered with facts.

    Observations to the effect were made repeatedly by the chief minister on the floor of the Assembly while replying to the debate on the motion of thanks to the governors address.

    The 70-year-old leader spoke for more than an hour and the last 30 minutes were spent with the opposition in abstentia as MLAs of the RJD, Congress and the Left staged a walkout expressing dissatisfaction with the chief ministers reply.

    “You all are free to go wherever you wish. But please make it a point to watch my speech on TV. I am responding to the very points you all had raised,” Kumar said sarcastically after the Leader of the Opposition Tejashwi Yadav signaled to his flock that it was time to leave the House.

    The chief minister kept his cool while reacting to barbs of the opposition leaders, but responded with righteous anger when a CPI-ML member sought to disparage his governments efforts at environmental preservation.

    “Do not become enemies of the environment contending that the poor have nothing to do with it. You have been lucky to win 12 seats for the first time. Do not waste your opportunity in this fashion,” Kumar shot back at the leader of CPI-ML with which he had allied in the 1995 assembly polls.

    He also came down heavily on suggestions made by various leaders of the Congress that his governments decision to ban alcohol be reviewed and some liquor shops be allowed to do business.

    Prohibition law was unanimously passed by this House, Kumar said referring to the development of April, 2016 when Congress was his alliance partner.

    He also whipped out a bundle of papers, saying this is the form which everyone signs while taking primary membership of the Congress party.

    “There is a column wherein the aspirant has to declare that he will consume no intoxicants. And the members of the very party have the temerity to speak in favour of liquor consumption. Prohibition is an idea inspired from Gandhian ideals,” Kumar fumed.

    The chief minister was at his paternalistic best when he was interrupted by 31-year-old Yadav number of times.

    “I did not interrupt you when you were delivering your speech. It gives me delight when the younger generation takes interest. We are not here for eternity. But being attentive to what is being said now will be of benefit to you and your generation, Kumar said disarmingly. Speaking with his face mask at his chin, Kumar also remarked smiling pointing to the opposition, You all seem to be less careful. This is not proper. If you have forgotten to bring your masks along, please contact the Speaker who has made arrangements for such situations.”

    Asserting that the state has made giant strides in power consumption, he agreed that the rates were quite high.

    “Bihar is paying Rs 4.50 per unit, highest for any state, a reason why I had suggested one nation one rate for power.”

    He had made the suggestion at a meeting of Niti Ayog chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi last week.

    When Yadav interrupted again blaming the states power woes on policies formulated two decades ago by the then Atal Bihari Vajpayee government at the Centre, Kumar, who has been an old associate of the formers father Lalu Prasad, remarked You were a child at that time.

    “I am one of those on whose lap you used to play. You seem to know a lot about what took place back then. Come to me with the material you have. I can say only about the portfolios I held,” said Kumar who had served as the Minister for Railways, Surface Transport and Agriculture in the Vajpayee government.

    He fondly recalled the work done by Vajpayee government which paved the way for the rapid progress Bihar has witnessed in the past decade and a half.

    “We would like to know about you experience with the current regime,” quipped Yadav in a snide reference to Kumar’s not so comfortable equation with Modi, whose elevation in the BJP he had strongly opposed in 2013 and exited the NDA.

    To this Kumar retorted If you insist on that I would ask you to speak about your experience of the year and eight months you worked with me.

    Yadav had served as Kumars deputy, the post to which he was appointed soon after his electoral debut in 2015 and which he held until the JD(U) leader returned to the NDA in 2017.

    The RJD leader had in his speech sought to put the government on the mat on the issue of law and order and claimed that as per NCRB figures cognizable offences have seen a more than 100 per cent rise since Kumar took over.

    Kumar countered Bihar has slipped to the 25th position in the country in terms of the number of cognizable offences and added more on that later when the Home department reels out statistics in due course.

    AIMIM state president and MLA Akhtarul Iman, who stayed back after the Grand Alliance members had walked out, tried to interrupt Kumar and raise the demand for making Purnea in north Bihar the states up-rajdhani (second capital).

    “This is unnecessary. Patna is now well connected to the farthest corners of Bihar,” Kumar asserted.

  • Fodder Scam: Jharkhand HC rejects Lalu Yadav’s bail application

    Express News Service
    RANCHI: In yet another shocker for RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, the Jharkhand High Court on Friday rejected his bail application sought in fodder scam case RC 38A/96 related to illegal withdrawal Rs 3.13 crore from Dumka Treasury. 

    Yadav had sought bail on the ground of completing half of his sentencing.

    According to defence counsel Prabhat Kumar, the court of Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh turned down the bail application on the ground that Yadav has not completed half of his sentencing.

    “After hearing arguments from both sides, the court rejected the bail application saying that Yadav falls short by two months in completing half of his sentencing. We had submitted before the court a chart to support our argument that he has completed 42 months in jail, which is more than half of hissentencing. However, the court did not consider two month-period of 1997 and 2001,” said the defence counsel. 

    Kumar said a fresh application will be filed after two months as per the calculation of the court.

    After being convicted by a Special CBI Court in Ranchi on December 23, 2017, in the second fodder scam case involving the illegal withdrawal of Rs 89.27 lakh from Deoghar treasury, the 72-year-old RJD chief was lodged in Birsa Munda Central jail in Ranchi but was shifted to RIMS on August 29, 2018,looking at his deteriorating health conditions.

    Lalu Prasad, so far, has been convicted in four out of the five cases related to multi-crore fodder scam cases related to Chaibasa Treasury (RC20A/96) on September 30, 2013, another Chaibasa Treasury (RC68A/96) on January 24, 2018, Deoghar Treasury (RC 64A/96) on February 23, 2018, and Dumka Treasury (RC38A/96) on February 19. 

  • Tej Pratap Yadav furious with RJD’s veteran state president Jagadanand Singh

    By PTI
    PATNA: Lalu Prasad’s mercurial elder son Tej Pratap Yadav, known for his frequent run-ins with senior leaders of the RJD, on Saturday chose to unleash his fury on state president and old loyalist Jagadanand Singh.

    Journalists made a scramble for the party’s Bir Chand Patel Marg office upon learning that the maverick RJD MLA has made an unscheduled visit to the premises, accompanied by a band of cheerleaders and boiling with rage.

    Yadav led the scribes to the chamber of Singh, who was not present, and screamed “I am told party workers seeking an audience with him are told to obtain prior appointment. Is this how a democratic party functions?”

    He also raked up the issue of his fathers ill-health and blamed “people like Jagadanand” who has remained by Prasads side in thick and thin – for the “poor shape in which Lalu Prasad and his party are today”.

    Yadav, who has launched a drive to press the demand for his jailed father’s release, as part of which postcards addressed to President Ram Nath Kovind were being dispatched after being signed by RJD workers, also fumed that Singh was yet to be a signatory.

    After giving vent to his rage for some time, Yadav, who sported his trademark sacred marks on the forehead but, incongruently, donned western style jacket and trousers, stormed out of the party office.

    Before taking his seat inside his car, he blurted with characteristic immodesty, “I am the partys mananiya (honourable) MLA from Hassanpur seat. And the state president has not even deigned to come and receive me”.

    Replying to a query, Yadav said, he never had such an experience with Singh’s predecessor Ram Chandra Purve.

    However, Purve, who was replaced by Singh less than two years ago, used to be similarly in the crosshairs of the maverick leader.

    Both Purve and Singh have been known to be closer to Prasads younger son Tejashwi Yadav who has outshined his elder brother in political standing and come to be recognised as the de facto leader of the party as well as the five-party Grand Alliance helmed by the RJD.

    The elder ones latest outbursts are understood to have been a result of complaints by some of his own “loyalists” that they were not being given due importance.

    Later, Singh, who is senior to Tej Pratap Yadavs father by a few years, had a tough time averting prying questions from journalists.

    “There is no problem. I will talk to him (Tej Pratap Yadav)” was all that the visibly shaken former Buxar MP could mumble.

    The RJDs decades old ally Congress chose to stay mum over the embarrassing episode and sought to deflect queries on the same.

    “It is an internal matter of the RJD. The partys leadership is capable of handling any situation. If anybody has a cause for worry in Bihar politics, it is the ruling JD(U)-BJP combine which seems poised to come apart on account of internal contradictions”, said Congress MLC and AICC media panelist Prem Chandra Mishra.

    Nonetheless, JD(U) MLC and spokesman Neeraj Kumar came out with a stinging criticism.

    “I wish to ask Jagadanand Singh why has he been prostrating (dandvat). You cannot expect respect for your age and experience in a party which has become the fiefdom of a political family”, Kumar said.

  • Tej Pratap bombards President Kovind with postcards seeking father Lalu Prasad Yadav’s release

    By PTI
    PATNA: Maverick RJD leader Tej Pratap Yadav launched a unique campaign on Friday for the release of his ailing septuagenarian father Lalu Prasad from custody, as he, along with hundreds of supporters, sent postcards to President Ramnath Kovind to press for the demand.

    Yadav, the elder son of former chief ministers Prasad and Rabri Devi, on Thursday marched to the General Post Office here with his supporters who carried bundles of postcards addressed to the President seeking release of the jailed party supremo.

    “We are here with lakhs of ‘azadi patras’ (petitions seeking freedom) in the interests of a socialist movement that is being undertaken in Bihar.

    We hope the President will heed the voice of the people,” said Yadav, who is known to be a doting son to the RJD boss.

    ALSO READ | Fodder scam: No bail for Lalu for at least another week as hearing deferred at CBI’s request

    Prasad, who is serving sentences in a number of fodder scam cases in Jharkhand, carved out of Bihar, is at present in Delhi undergoing treatment for multiple ailments.

    In his late 70s, the leader, who had also served as the railway minister in the UPA-1 government, is a diabetic and suffers from a heart condition and kidney problems.

    He has been granted bail by the Jharkhand High Court in some of the cases but he needs to secure the same in a few others in order to be freed from custody.

    When asked about the campaign, RJD state spokesman Chitaranjan Gagan said, “It is, of course, a personal initiative of Tej Pratap Yadav but the party does back it since the matter involves our undisputed leader.”

    The move, however, met with strong disapproval from BJP Rajya Sabha member Sushil Kumar Modi, the former deputy chief minister of Bihar who has been the foremost bte noire of the proverbial “first family” of the RJD.

    In a couple of tweets, he pointed out that Prasad was convicted after a “prolonged legal battle” and “legal wizards like Ram Jethmalani could neither save him from punishment nor help him get bail”.

    In an indirect reference to Tej Pratap Yadav having been overshadowed by his younger brother Tejashwi, Modi added “the sidelined prince of RJD is now trying to create mistrust in the judiciary by the gimmickry of sending two lakh postcards to the President”.

    Modi also referred to the RJD’s dismal performance in the Lok Sabha polls of 2019, when it drew a blank, and Prasad’s attempts to topple the NDA government after the recent assembly elections, in which the party won the maximum number of seats but the coalition helmed by it fell short of getting majority.

    An official of the postal department said postcards found to be in order will be dispatched.

    “This episode is amusing and puzzling. But the postal department will have to do its job. Postcards found to be in order will be dispatched. Others will go back to the senders,” said a department official requesting anonymity.

  • RJD delegation meets TMC’s Abhishek Banerjee on Bengal polls

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: An RJD delegation met senior TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee in Kolkata on Monday over the upcoming assembly elections in West Bengal.

    Addressing the press, RJD’s principal general secretary Abdul Bari Siddiqui said that a decision to form an alliance with a non-BJP secular party for the elections in West Bengal will be taken by its central leadership.

    The meeting with Banerjee was a part of the RJD’s objective to defeat the “communal forces”, he said.

    RJD’s national general secretary Shyam Razak was also present in the meeting along with Siddiqui.

    There is nothing to share about the talks at this point, Siddiqui told reporters.

    He said the RJD was open to discussions about an alliance with other non-BJP parties as well.

    “TMC is BJP’s biggest enemy, hence we held discussions with TMC, but only to assess the situation at present. We will send the feedback to our central leadership,” he said.

    Replying to a question on whether the party would hold talks with the opposition CPI(M), Siddiqui said, “If they invite us today we will turn up as soon as possible, say tomorrow.”

    RJD, the main opposition party of Bihar, had said on Sunday that it is exploring the possibility of contesting some seats on the Bengal-Bihar border in the upcoming assembly elections, likely in April-May.

    “All the secular and democratic forces should join hands to fight against the BJP,” Siddiqui said.

    RJD had an MLA in the Bengal assembly between 2006 and 2011 during the Left Front rule.

  • RJD says in talks with Trinamool Congress to fight West Bengal polls together, TMC denies

    By PTI
    KOLKATA:  Bihar’s main opposition party RJD said on Sunday that it is in talks with the Trinamool Congress to fight the upcoming West Bengal elections together, but leaders of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s party claimed that no such discussions are underway.

    RJD leaders claimed that the party’s principal general secretary Abdul Bari Siddiqui and national general secretary Shyam Rajak are in Kolkata to hammer a tie-up with the TMC for the Bengal polls. “We will be meeting Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday to fight Bengal elections together,” Rajak told PTI.

    Siddiqui and Rajak met RJD leaders in the state ahead of the discussions with Banerjee. However, TMC leaders said that no talks of any tie-up with the RJD for the West Bengal polls are underway. RJD spokesperson Mrityunjay Tiwary said over the phone from Patna that the party is exploring the possibility of contesting some seats on the Bengal-Bihar border.

    However, he did not give any numbers on which the party is planning to fight the state elections, likely in April-May. Banerjee has cordial relation with RJD supremo Lalu Prasad and the party wishes to strengthen her hands in the Bengal polls, Tiwary said.

    He added that the primary objective of the RJD is to stop the “communal” BJP from increasing its influence in West Bengal and strengthen the secular forces under the leadership of the TMC chief.

    Though not a noticeable player in Bengal politics, the RJD, which emerged as the largest party in the recently concluded Bihar polls and enjoys considerable support among the Muslims besides the Yadavs, is eyeing a few seats on the inter-state border that have a sizeable number of Hindi- speaking voters.

    RJD had an MLA in the Bengal assembly between 2006 and 2011 during the Left Front rule.

  • Tejashwi Yadav goofs up by putting wrong picture during tribute to ex-Bihar CM Sri Krishna Singh

    By PTI
    PATNA: RJD leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav on Sunday came in for sharp criticism from the NDA constituents for posting Anugrah Narayan Sinha’s picture while paying tribute to Bihar’s first Chief Minister late Sri Krishna Singh on his death anniversary.

    “I bow down to Bihars first Chief Minister Dr Sri Krishna Singh on his death anniversary,” Tejashwi tweeted while paying tribute to Bihars first CM.

    बिहार के प्रथम मुख्यमंत्री डॉ. श्रीकृष्ण सिंह जी की पुण्यतिथि पर शत-शत नमन। pic.twitter.com/cUE1Epi1pY
    — Tejashwi Yadav (@yadavtejashwi) January 31, 2021

    However, he committed a goof-up by posting photograph of Anugrah Narayan Sinha in place of “Shri Babu. Anugraha Narayan Sinha known as ‘Bihar Vibhuti’ had served as a prominent minister in Dr Sri Krishna Singh’s first cabinet after Independence.

    NDA constituents-JDU, BJP and HAMS latched on the issue to attack Lalu Prasad’s younger son. RJD sought to downplay the matter, saying it was a “technical error” which the opponent should not make an issue and go by the spirit of the tweet.

    Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) national president and former Bihar CM Jitan Ram Manjhi took a jibe at Tejashwis knowledge about leaders of Bihar, saying “those who do not recognise as who the late Sri Krishna Singh was, now reckons himself as a leader of Bihar.

    “@yadavtejashwi babu, if you dont know (recognize) Bihar Vibhutis (legends), then I would send pictures of all these personalities. See photos before making any comments from now onwards. This boy has made a fun of himself,” Manjhi said in his tweet.

    JDU spokesman and MLC Neeraj Kumar questioned Tejashwis knowledge asking, “whether it reflects his hate for knowledge or societal hate as he has posted picture of late Anugrah Babu on the death anniversary of Dr Sri Krishna Singh. “How political tourists will know the great leaders of Bihar. You are corrupt and only know the criminals lodged in jail,” JD(U) leader wryly said.

    BJP too derided Tejashwi, the leader of opposition in Bihar assembly, for his goof-up. “The leader of opposition should exhibit his political- social hatred after first getting himself acquainted with the pictures of Bihar Kesri late Sri Krishna Singh and Bihar Vibhuti late Anugrah Narayan Singh,” state BJP spokesman Arvind Kumar Singh said.

    Downplaying the issue, RJD spokesman Mrityunjay Tiwary told PTI that “Tejashwi Yadav jee does not himself put up tweets. Its a technical error. The opponents should not make it an issue, rather they should try to understand the spirit behind the tweet.”