Skip to main content

"Won't Contest Polls Without Chief Minister Face": Tejashwi Yadav

The Grand Alliance will not contest the Bihar assembly election without a Chief Ministerial face, Rashtriya Janata Dal's Tejashwi Yadav told NDTV today, packing in a little dig. "Are we the BJP that we do not have any faces? We definitely will not contest the elections without projecting a Chief Ministerial face," he said in an exclusive interview while on supplementary Adhikar Yatra -areas that had been left out from the main Opposition footmarch that concluded two weeks ago. 

Mr Yadav has unequivocally endorsed Congress's Rahul Gandhi as the Prime Ministerial face of the Opposition INDIA bloc. Though in the process, he ruffled the feathers of several leaders, Mr Gandhi has not returned the favour and named him the Grand Alliance's Chief Ministerial face for Bihar.

Asked about the matter, Mr Yadav was unperturbed. "Wait a little bit. It is the people who would decide on the Chief Minister. But having a Chief Minister or a government is not the main thing. We have to build Bihar," he said. 

"It makes no difference if there is a delay of five or 10 days," he added. 

Once the seat sharing is done, this issue would also be tackled, he said, underscoring that they would not contest without a Chief Ministerial face.

On August 31, the penultimate day of the opposition yatra, Mr Yadav had dropped broad hints that he would be the Chief Ministerial face of the alliance.

"This is a copycat government. We need an original CM, not a duplicate one," he had said at a rally in Ara, targeting Mr Kumar. 

Then, turning to the crowd, he had asked, "Is it not a copycat government? Isn't it copying me? Tejashwi is ahead; the government is behind. Do you want a duplicate CM or an original CM?" 

While the Congress, as a junior partner in the alliance, is not likely to resist to Mr Yadav's being the Chief Ministerial face, Rahul Gandhi had avoided a direct reply when asked. 

"All INDIA bloc partners are working together in a spirit of mutual respect, without any tension. We will contest the polls together and the results will be good," he had told reporters, with Mr Yadav at his side.



from NDTV News- Special https://ift.tt/Vhwr0SW

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Delhi to Get More EV Charging, Battery Swapping Stations as Cab Aggregators Increase E-Bikes

The NDMC is planning to increase the number of EV charging stations in Lutyens' Delhi and even provide battery swapping facilities at some of these points, a senior official said on Wednesday. With Delhi being among the most polluted capitals in the world, the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) has been making a push for electric vehicles to nudge residents to opt for cleaner vehicle options. There are around 100 electric vehicle (EV) charging stations across the national capital at present and this would be the first time that some of them would have battery swapping facilities, which is quite prominent in Western countries, he said. The official said the aim is to provide easy accessibility to charging stations and to save time by providing swapping facilities. This will give a major push to EVs in the city. Various PSUs, including the Rajasthan Electronics and Instruments Limited (REIL) and the Kerala State Electronics Development Corporation Limited (KELTRON), have approac...

PM Modi To Reschedule 3-Nation Europe Visit As Tensions With Pakistan Soar

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has put his three-nation Europe visit on hold as tensions between India and Pakistan have surged in the wake of the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam in which 26 civilians were killed by Pak-linked terrorists in a religiously-motivated terror attack. India responded on Wednesday with precision missile strikes on terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. PM Modi, who is closely-monitoring the situation, has reportedly asked for his visit to Croatia, Norway, and the Netherlands, which was due next week, to be rescheduled. As per his original schedule Prime Minister Modi was to commence his official visit to the three nations on May 13. He was also going to participate in the India-Nordic Summit in Oslo on May 15 and 16. All three countries have been informed about the change in PM Modi's schedule. They have also been appraised about the current situation between India and Pakistan. Last month too, on the day of the Pahalga...

After Nitish Kumar's 'Praise', BJP Says Doors Closed For Him

The opposition BJP in Bihar on Thursday said that its doors were "closed" for Chief Minister Nitish Kumar who dumped the saffron party a year ago, stripping it of power in the state. State BJP President Samrat Choudhary made the averment to this effect in reply to queries from journalists about the Janata Dal United leader's address to the convocation ceremony of Mahatma Gandhi Central University at Motihari. Speaking in the presence of President Droupadi Murmu and Governor Rajendra Arlekar, Mr Kumar had freely spoken of the tussle he had with the then Congress government at the Centre for getting a university approved for Motihari, where Mahatma Gandhi had launched the Champaran Satyagraha. Without mentioning Prime Minister Narendra Modi by name, Mr Kumar acknowledged that the project saw the light of the day only after a change of guard "in 2014" as the UPA government "initially refused and after much persuasion agreed in principle but did not move for...