Police briefly visited former Bihar Deputy Chief Minister and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav’s residence late on Sunday, hours ahead of a crucial floor test. RJD supporters staged protests and chanted slogans over the police’s visit on a complaint of ‘kidnapping’ MLAs.
It has come to light that a complaint was lodged with Patna Police regarding RJD MLA Chetan Anand, claiming that he was kidnapped and kept at Tejashwi Yadav’s residence. When the police arrived at the former Bihar Deputy Chief Minister’s house, Chetan Anand told them he was there at his own will. Later, he left Tejashwi Yadav’s residence for his home.
As the police arrived at Tejashwi Yadav’s plush bungalow, the area became a fortress with a large number of security personnel deployed to maintain law and order. Seeing this, the RJD supporters got enraged and shouted slogans outside the RJD leader’s residence.
It is being said that the younger brother Chetan Anand had lodged a complaint with the police that he had been put under house arrest by Tejashwi Yadav ahead of the floor test. Chetan Anand is the son of former MP and gangster-politician Anand Mohan.
Reacting to the incident, the RJD took to X and alleged that Chief Minister Nitish Kumar sent police to Tejashwi Yadav’s residence, fearing his defeat in the floor test.
“They want to enter inside the residence and do untoward incidents with the MLAs. The people of Bihar are watching the misdeeds of Nitish Kumar and the police. Remember, we are not among those who fear and bow down,” the party wrote in Hindi.
“This is a struggle of ideology and we will fight it and win because the justice-loving people of Bihar will oppose this police repression. Jai Bihar! Jai Hind!” it added.
In response, BJP leader Shahnawaz Hussain accused the RJD and the Congress of spreading confusion and asserted that the NDA government will prove its majority in the Assembly.
“If you (Tejashwi Yadav) kidnap the MLAs and any MLA’s relative files a complaint, the police will surely come. If you (Tejashwi Yadav) will keep any MLA tied up in your house, the police will surely take action. So they (police) are doing their job. The RJD and the Congress are only spreading confusion,” he said.
“The JD(U) and the BJP will together prove majority on the assembly floor. No one (MLAs) is out of reach and everyone is in contact with us. Only confusion is being spread. All NDA MLAs are together,” he said.
Earlier, MLAs of the Congress, who had been stationed in Telangana for a week amid fears of poaching, returned to Patna. The party has 19 MLAs, all of whom have reached 5, Deshratna Marg, the bungalow allotted to Tejashwi Yadav when he was the Deputy Chief Minister.
RJD MLAs, along with their Left allies, have been putting up at Tejashwi Yadav’s residence since Saturday night, and they are likely to reach the Vidhan Sabha on Monday together in a show of solidarity.
The Mahagathbandhan, which comprises RJD, Congress, CPI(ML) Liberation, CPI and CPI(M) has 114 MLAs. Besides, there is one member of the AIMIM, headed by Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi, who has not revealed his cards.
Meanwhile, it has come to light that eight NDA MLAs, five from the JD(U) and three from the BJP, were ‘missing’. The MLAs who were reportedly not in contact were — Bhagirathi Devi, Rashmi Verma and Mishrilal Yadav, all of whom are from the BJP. The ‘missing’ JD(U) legislators are — Bima Bharti, Sudarshan, Dilip Rai, Manoj Yadav and Dr Sanjeev.
According to sources, Jitan Ram Manjhi’s Hindustan Awam Morcha (HAM) is non-committal to support the NDA government in the floor test. The party has claimed it will support the government only when it came to voting to remove Speaker Awadh Bihari Chaudhary, an RJD leader, sources said.
The NDA government will face a trust vote on Monday when the Bihar assembly’s budget session commences. The Nitish Kumar-led government has a majority with 128 members supporting the BJP-JD(U) alliance.
The magic figure for the majority is 122 in the 243-member Bihar assembly.
(with inputs from agencies)