News Analysis India

Tag: Tejashwi Yadav

  • Protesting JDU merger, 35 senior RLSP leaders join RJD, attack Upendra Kushwaha

    Express News Service
    PATNA: Amid the speculations about the RLSP-JDU merger, nearly 35 senior leaders of RLSP including working state president and principal general secretary joined Bihar’s principal opposition party-RJD, in a dramatic way on Friday.

    Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Tejashwi Yadav, along with party state chief Jagdanand Singh gave them the primary memberships of the party. The prominent faces who joined RJD giving an existential threat to RLSP are state president Virendra Kushwaha, principal general secretary Nirmal Kushwaha, state president of Women’s Cell Madhu Manjari Mehta and former state president Vijay Mahato and others. All of them received the RJD membership in the presence of Tejashwi Yadav.

    They attacked Upendra Kushwaha for his decision to merge RLSP with JDU. Lashing out at Upendra Kushwaha and Nitish Kumar, Tejashwi Yadav said, “It was Nitish Kumar, who had dubbed Upendra Kushwaha during the state assembly election as ‘neech’ indirectly. Now, Kushwaha ji has decided to go with him — the weakest chief minister of the country.”

    “Only Upendra Kushwaha is left to survive or sink in the RLSP”, he mocked. Quoting an old statement of Upendra Kushwaha, Tejashwi said that once he often used to say that no one needs an enemy if he has a friend like Nitish Kumar.  Now, he is going to be merged with Nitish Kumar and the CM has also become so restless to welcome Kushwaha”, he said.

    रालोसपा के संस्थापकों, प्रमुख नेताओं व पदाधिकारियों ने रालोसपा के राष्ट्रीय अध्यक्ष उपेंद्र कुशवाहा जी को निष्कासित कर पार्टी का आज राजद में विलय कर दिया। प्रदेश की राजनीति में यह एक बड़ा बदलाव है। उपेंद्र कुशवाहा जी अब अकेले रह गये है। उनकी पार्टी अब राजद का हिस्सा बन चुकी है। pic.twitter.com/L4HVatzmym
    — Tejashwi Yadav (@yadavtejashwi) March 12, 2021

    He also made a frontal attack on Nitish Kumar saying that Kumar survives on the support of “Baisakhi” (support or anchor) of BJP in Bihar.  “In Bihar, the development of double engine has come to a standstill.”, Yadav sarcastically said.

    Earlier, on March 6, 41 RLSP leaders had joined the JDU.  Meanwhile, poll analysts Arun Kumar Pandey said that RLSP has been weakened by the desertion of 35 leaders. “ But once Upendra Kushwaha, who has been projecting himself as an alternate to Nitish Kumar is speculated to be under the same man if his party merges ahead with JDU”, Pandey said.

    Meanwhile, sources said that the RLSP will merger with JDU after March 14.

  • Dozens of RLSP leaders join RJD amid speculation of party’s merger with JD-U

    Express News Service
    PATNA: Amid speculations that Bihar’s Rashtriya Lok Samta Party (RLSP) is likely to merge with JD-U, dozens of office-bearers of the Upendra Kushwaha-led party including the principal general secretary and others, joined the RJD on Friday.

    Leader of the RJD Tejashwi Yadav welcomed all those who joined the party.

    Stepping up attacks on JD-U leader Nitish Kumar, Tejashwi Yadav said he has become the country’s weakest Chief Minister.

    “There is nothing called sushashan (good governance) in Bihar. Nitish Kumar has ruined the state and he does not have the courage to take action against criminals and corruption”, Yadav said.

    He lambasted the Nitish government for not taking action against the brother of a BJP minister after liquor was seized from his school premises in Muzaffarpur recently.

    Yadav accusing the state government of patronizing and protecting the criminals politically.

    “Now, Nitish has stooped so low that he is welcoming Upendra Kushwaha, whom he had once described as ‘nich’, said Tejashwi Yadav.

    Prominent among others who joined the are principal general secretary Nirmal Kumar, Birendra Kushwaha, and Madhu Manjari.

    All those who joined the RJD lambasted Upendra Kushwaha for his decision to merge RLSP with JD-U.

  • BJP: Aren’t Tejashwi Yadav, other leaders from outside Bengal backing TMC outsiders?

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: The BJP on Tuesday asked the Trinamool Congress whether it would call Tejashwi Yadav of the RJD and leaders of other parties from outside West Bengal supporting the TMC in the election outsiders in the same way it has branded functionaries of the saffron party visiting the state.

    BJP spokesperson Shamik Bhattacharya also alleged that state Finance Minister Amit Mitra has provided misleading information on the MSME sector investment during the Covid-19 pandemic.

    “Divisive forces” like the Indian Secular Front (ISF), led by influential Muslim cleric Abbas Siddiqui, has emerged because of the “politics of appeasement” pursued by the TMC, he alleged and cautioned people against “communal polarisation”.

    Bhattacharya claimed that Yadav violated the model code of conduct by meeting Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee at the state secretariat Nabanna on Monday and asking people originally hailing from Bihar to vote for the TMC from its compound.

    He, however, did not mention Yadav, the leader of the opposition in Bihar assembly, by name and described him as “the son of a jailed RJD leader and former chief minister”.

    “We are hearing that a leader from Uttar Pradesh is also coming to the state after pledging his moral support to the TMC. NCP leader Sharad Pawar too is expected to come for the same reason,” Bhattacharya told a press conference here.

    By “a leader from Uttar Pradesh”, he apparently meant Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav.

    “I have a simple question for the chief minister. You have branded our leaders Narendra Modi, Amit Shah and J P Nadda as outsiders. Then what are these leaders? “The cheap parochial outsider narrative invented by your party to describe the country’s prime minister, the home minister and our national president has now faltered,” Bhattacharya said.

    Any non-BJP leader is welcome to Bengal for campaigning against the saffron party, “but my question is shouldn’t they also be called outsiders”, he said.

    On the newly formed ISF floated by Siddiqui, the cleric of Furfura Sharif in Hooghly district, Bhattacharya claimed that the Left is trying to use it for survival.

    The Left Front has agreed to leave for the ISF 30 seats as part of the Left-Congress-ISF alliance. Seat sharing talks are on between the ISF and the Congress.

    “The BJP will fight against such forces till its last breath. We will not allow the return of pre-1947 situation in Bengal. The appeasement policies of the Trinamool Congress government led to the emergence of forces like Siddiqui,” he said.

    The state BJP spokesperson also accused Amit Mitra, the finance and industry minister of West Bengal, of providing misleading information about MSME sector investment during the time of the COVID-19 outbreak, violating the model code of conduct.

    “Banks in Bengal lent Rs 63,000 Cr for investment to Medium-Sml industry,Aprl2020-Jan21, with State Gov’s support. Result: 23 lakh new jobs as per GoI capital/labour ratio,” Mitra tweeted on Monday.

    According to the minister, crores of rupees were invested during the COVID-19 pandemic in West Bengal for new MSMEs, Bhattacharya said and wanted to know the source of the money.

    “Actually, the money provided by the Centre to ensure existing industries do not close down during COVID situation and the lockdown has now been falsely cited as investments for new MSMEs,” he said and branded the state government as “shilpa chor” (industry thief).

    Earlier, the TMC government used to be known as “chal chor” (rice thief),”tripal chor” (tarpaulin thief), “kendriya prakalpa chor” (central scheme thief), Bhattacharya claimed, referring to accusations that various items provided by the Centre did not reach the intended beneficiaries in the state.

    The chief minister herself had said during the peak of COVID-19 outbreak that it has affected livelihood of people and there has been no new employment opportunity, the BJP leader claimed.

    The state government took no initiative to improve the condition of industries, he alleged.

  • People of Bihar living in West Bengal will vote for development: Manoj Tiwari

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Delhi BJP MP Manoj Tiwari on Tuesday said the people of Bihar living in West Bengal will vote for “development”, paying no attention to RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, who has voiced support to Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress (TMC) in the upcoming Bengal polls.

    The Northeast Delhi MP, who hails from Bihar, said leaders from the state should stop treating its people as their vote bank in other states.

    “Tejashwi should have learnt his lesson from the Bihar polls, where people voted in favour of the BJP and the JD(U) due to their development aspirations.

    His appeal to the people from Bihar living in Bengal to support the TMC will fail as they will vote for the BJP and development,” Tiwari said.

    Seeking to forge unity among secular political parties in the West Bengal Assembly polls, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Yadav met Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday and appealed to the people from Bihar domiciled in Bengal to vote for the ruling TMC.

    Yadav said the first priority of his party was to stop the BJP’s progress in West Bengal.

    He, however, ducked questions by journalists on whether the RJD will contest the election in an alliance with the TMC, saying the upcoming polls will be a fight for saving “ideals and values”.

    “Our party’s stand is to provide full support to Mamataji,” he said.

    Tiwari, a former Delhi BJP president and a popular Bhojpuri singer and actor, is likely to be one of the star campaigners for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in West Bengal.

    The Assembly polls for 294 seats in the state will be held in eight phases starting March 27 and The results will be announced on May 2.

  • Tejashwi Yadav won’t make any difference in Bengal Assembly polls: Kailash Vijayvargiya

    By ANI
    KOLKATA: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya on Tuesday said that Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav will not make any difference in the West Bengal Assembly polls because people will vote for BJP due to their faith in Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

    This comes a day after Yadav promised to give his full support to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in the coming assembly polls in the state.

    “Before the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Mamata Banerjee projected herself as Prime Ministerial candidate by calling leaders from all parties on a stage in Kolkata. Inspite of this, the people of Bengal did not vote for her. Tejashwi Yadav or anybody will not make any difference in West Bengal polls because people have faith in Narendra Modi and want a government under his leadership,” Vijayvargiya told ANI here.

    The BJP made deep inroads in the state in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections winning 18 seats and reducing TMC’s tally to 22. Out of the total 42 Lok Sabha constituencies in West Bengal, Congress won two seats, the Left drew a blank.

    When asked about the infighting between Congress leaders over the party’s alliance with Furfura Sharif’s Indian Secular Front (ISF), Vijayvargiya said, “I don’t want to comment on Congress’ infighting. It is their own fight. Relations don’t get stronger when there is a fight for selfish needs.”

    “An alliance based on greed doesn’t last long. It’s alarming that Congress, CPM and TMC are going to any length for appeasement politics. They are getting exposed in the process,” he added.

    Vijayvargiya, BJP’s central observer for West Bengal, also spoke about PM Modi’s scheduled rally in Kolkata on March 7 and the party’s prospects.

    “BJP is going among the masses with the message of ‘sabka saath, saabka vikas’. Narendra Modi’s upcoming rally will be the biggest rally in the history of West Bengal,” he said.

    BJP functionaries including Kailash Vijayvargiya, national General Secretary, Mukul Roy national Vice-President, Sanjay Singh, General Secretary and Swapan Dasgupta, MP, Rajya Sabha are looking into the preparations at Brigade Parade Ground, Kolkata where PM Modi will address a public meeting on March 7.

    This will be PM Modi’s first rally in West Bengal post the announcement of election dates by the Election Commission of India (ECI).

    Meanwhile, BJP Rajya Sabha MP Swapan Dasgupta along with other BJP leaders met the Election Commission seeking clarification on the status of administrators of 124 municipalities and 477 corporations “whose term has ended but most of them are being run by administrators, who are not actually administrators but political appointees. They are still continuing.”

    “Does the model code of conduct apply to them? We believe it does and must be adhered to by them. We demanded that these so-called administrators must be replaced by people who are answerable to the government. These people are not accountable to the government. Various ward offices in the municipal and corporations are being run as political parties offices. We urge the commission to ensure that this does not happen,” Dasgupta said.

    West Bengal Assembly elections will be held in eight phases starting from March 27 with the final round of voting taking place on April 29. Counting of votes will take place on May 2.  

  • West Bengal polls: Tejashwi announces alliance with Mamata

    By Express News Service
    KOLKATA: RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav met West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday and announced his full support to her party in the upcoming assembly elections. The RJD will contest in a few seats, three to four, as an ally of the ruling Trinamool Congress.

    “Many people from Bihar live in West Bengal. I appeal to all from Bihar to support Mamata ji,” said Yadav, Welcoming Yadav’s announcement, Mamata said, “The BJP used all kinds of tricks to stop him (Yadav) from wining the Bihar elections.”

    Non-Bengali people living in West Bengal have a stake of around 6 per cent in the state’s total electorate. In many pockets people migrated from Bihar have a strong presence, constituting 12 per cent to 14 per cent of total electorate.RJD’s decision is said to be significant at a time when the state is likely to witness a tooth and nail battle.   

    “A considerable chunk of 6 per cent non-Bengali electorate is from Bihar. Considering the BJP’s performance in the 2019 polls, we are ahead by only 3 per cent votes. The non-Bengali voters might prove a deciding factor in some of the constituencies. The move will definitely secure us electoral dividend to some extent,” said a TMC leader.

  • Tejashwi Yadav tells Biharis living in Bengal to back Mamata Banerjee, prefers silence on alliance

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: Seeking to forge unity among secular parties in the West Bengal assembly elections, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav met Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday and appealed to the people from Bihar domiciled here to vote for the ruling TMC.

    Emerging from a meeting with Banerjee at the state secretariat, Yadav said that the first priority of his party was to stop the BJP’s progress in West Bengal.

    He, however, avoided giving a straightforward answer to questions by journalists about whether the RJD will contest the elections in alliance with the TMC, saying the upcoming polls will be a fight for saving “ideals and values”.

    “Our party’s stand is to provide full support to Mamataji,” he said, appealing to the people from Bihar domiciled in Bengal to stand with Banerjee’s party.

    Banerjee, on her part, said she and jailed RJD supremo Lalu prasad share “mutual respect”.

    “When we are fighting, it is brother Tejashwi who is also fighting, we are together,” Banerjee said.

  • West Bengal polls: Mamata to meet Tejaswi Yadav; chair election committee meeting today

    By ANI
    KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief Mamata Banerjee is set to chair an election committee meeting on Monday at her residence in Kalighat to look into the selection of candidates and formulate a strategy for the upcoming assembly polls.

    The meeting will be held at 12:00 pm.

    Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav will also be meeting Mamata Banerjee today to discuss West Bengal elections.

    Trinamool Congress’s election committee will also refine the plan of campaigning.

    West Bengal will have eight-phased Assembly polls and first phase will be held on March 27, the counting of votes will take place on May 2.The state is likely to witness a triangular contest this time with TMC, Congress-Left alliance and BJP in the fray.

    While Mamata Banerjee is seeking her third consecutive term, BJP has set a target of winning 200 seats in the 294-member state Assembly. Congress and the Left have stitched the alliance for the polls and had already finalised the seat-sharing agreement. They are also in touch with the Indian Secular Front (ISF), recently floated by influential minority leader Abbas Siddique.

    With the announcement of the election schedule, the Model Code of Conduct has come into force in the state.

    In 2016, West Bengal Assembly elections, out of the 294 seats, Congress had managed to win 44 seats while the Left Front bagged 33 seats. The ruling TMC secured 211 seats and the BJP had won 3 seats. 

  • Will Tejashwi Yadav make any impact in Assam and Bengal?

    By Express News Service
    PATNA: Will the RJD’s plans to enter the electoral fray in West Bengal and Assam inflict any damages on its target, the BJP? This has become a million-dollar political question being asked by Bihar’s political observers and analysts.

    Some analysts say RJD’s influence could be felt in some pockets where Hindi-speaking voters are permanently settled in Assam and Bengal.

    As per rough estimation, compared to Bengal, its neighbour Assam has a larger population of Hindi-speaking voters who had migrated from Bihar.

    ALSO READ | RJD to contest Assam polls aiming Hindi-speaking voters: Tejashwi Yadav

    “Around, two per cent of voters are Hindi-speaking in Assam, who owe lineages from Bihar and a majority of them belong to Yadav community.

    In some seats, they may be able to swing the results,” said Arun Kumar Pandey, a seasoned political analyst-cum- senior journalist in Patna. He added that the RJD may try to highlight the unemployment issue during thr BJP rule during the campaign.

  • 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.