Amid rift rumours, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar took part in the ‘dahi-chura bhoj’ ceremony as part of Makar Sankranti celebrations at RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav’s home on Monday.
“We were pleased to have at our place the honourable chief minister on a day we have been, since long, treating people to ‘dahi chuda’ (flattened rice with curd), items made of ’til’ (sesame) and ‘konhre ki sabzi’ (pumpkin stew). Other colleagues in the cabinet have been dropping in as well. We welcome them all,” said Tejashwi Yadav, Lalu Yadav’s son and Bihar’s Deputy Chief Minister.
Tejashwi Yadav discredited the rumours of a rift between his father and Nitish Kumar over the Opposition bloc INDIA’s seat-sharing in Bihar. He also debunked the speculations of the RJD hatching a conspiracy with former JD(U) chief Rajiv Ranjan Singh ‘Lalan’ to dethrone Nitish Kumar as chief minister, due to which Nitish replaced Lalan as party chief.
“Ever since Lalu-ji and Nitish-ji joined hands, the BJP has been scared. Also, we are running a government that has delivered on its promise of job creation on a large scale. As such, there is no need for any explanation on the various theories that have been doing the rounds,” news agency PTI quoted Tejashwi Yadav as saying.
Meanwhile, RJD MLA Bhai Virendra said that Nitish can sustain his government only “with the blessings” of Lalu Yadav.
The MLA further said, “Lalu is elder to Nitish. There is no doubt that both are cooperating with each other due to which the government is functioning smoothly. Both have the blessings and mandate of the electorate in Bihar.”
JD(U) MLA Ratnesh Sada said that all was well within the INDIA bloc and seat sharing was “just a matter of time”.
Speaking to India Today TV, Sada refuted reports on internal bickering in the INDIA bloc over seat sharing and claimed things will materialise in due course of time.