A day after he took oath as Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s deputy, Tejashwi Yadav today praised the Janata Dal (United) leader for his “fearless” stand despite BJP’s “vindictive” stand towards the Opposition. In an exclusive interview with NDTV, Mr Yadav also said allegations that his party can’t govern are “rubbish”.
“The Mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) is the real government – the people’s government in Bihar. It is what the people want – Nitish ji and Laluji‘s gathbandhan,” he said.
Nitish Kumar’s “bold decision” to dump the BJP, Tejashwi Yadav said, has left the party “worried and bruised”.
“People are on our side. We have to work for them now. If BJP worked for the people, then they would not have needed central agencies like the CBI and ED to stay relevant. The slap that the people of Bihar have given BJP and the bold decision taken by Nitish Kumar have left them worried and bruised. They are vindictive people,” he said.
Tejashwi Yadav, 32, also said that the new government will address unemployment and poverty on priority. “Providing jobs is our priority… We will fulfil this commitment together,” he added.
Asked whether the alliance will complete the tenure, Mr Tejashwi Yadav said,” “We are socialists… We (Nitish Kumar and I) have traded allegations, but we belong to one family. We may fight but we will be at the service of the people”.
Tejashwi Yadav, whose party has often been attacked by the BJP over the crime rate when his father was the chief minister, said that it was a matter of “perception that has been created in people’s minds (people feeling unsafe)”
“Show me data on Bihar during our time and then we can talk about crime in Bihar. If you analyze data on which government was better, you will realise that crime was rampant when the NDA was in power,” he said.
Nitish Kumar took oath as the Chief Minister of Bihar for the eighth time on Wednesday.
This came a day after major political turmoil in the state, after which Nitish Kumar broke the alliance of Janata Dal-United (JD-U) with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and announced to form a new “Grand Alliance” which includes Tejashwi Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and other Opposition parties.
The oath ceremony was attended by Tejashwi and his wife Rajshri, former CM Rabri Devi and RJD leader Tej Pratap Yadav at the swearing-in ceremony at Raj Bhavan in Patna.
