Tejahswi backs Rahul’s claim of rigged LS polls

RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav on Tuesday backed Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s allegation that the recently held Lok Sabha elections were not held in a free and fair manner, even though the BJP ended up losing majority as a party.

The former Bihar deputy chief minister, who was in Samastipur where he kicked off the first leg of his Karykarta Samvad Yatra, was responding to queries about the statement made by the Congress leader during a trip to the US that had there been a “level playing field”, the BJP’s tally would have been much lower than the 240 seats it got.

Yadav said, “It is no secret that central investigating agencies are let loose on opponents of the BJP. On the other hand, as we have seen in Maharashtra, a tie-up with the ruling party at the Centre washes away all past sins.” The allusion was to Ajit Pawar, the Maharashtra deputy chief minister, who split the NCP headed by uncle Sharad Pawar and joined the NDA government in the western state days after being accused of corruption by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

However, Yadav seemed to be satisfied that “those boasting of a 400 plus tally, got reduced to a mere 240. It is just the beginning. Popular discontent with the current dispensation is only going to intensify”.

The RJD leader, whose party had performed below par in the Lok Sabha polls, winning only four of 23 seats it contested in Bihar, however, exuded confidence that the Mahagathbandhan will win next year’s state assembly polls.

“We must remember that in state polls, local factors take the upper hand. We must also not forget that, but for some suspected foul play on the day when votes were counted, the Mahagathbandhan may have formed the government in 2020 itself. We polled only 12,000 votes less than the NDA,” said Yadav, who is currently the leader of the opposition in the 243-strong assembly.

The 34-year-old younger son and heir apparent of RJD president Lalu Prasad said he is are happy to launch his drive in Samastipur, the place of birth of Bharat Ratna late Karpoori Thakur. “I will tour the entire state in due course and seek feedback from grassroots workers,” he said.

The first leg of Yadav’s outreach programme would cover Samastipur, Darbhanga , Madhubani and Muzaffarpur before concluding on September 17, RJD sources said.

The RJD leader emphasised that during his statewide tour, he would seek to highlight how the ruling NDA government in Bihar led by Nitish Kumar as well as the central government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi were not putting the two reservation laws related to hike in quota from 50% to 65% for backward classes, EBCs and scheduled caste/tribe in the ninth schedule so that it is not open to judicial review.

On the ongoing special land survey in Bihar, Yadav said it should be made simpler and laws should be more stringent so that the basic idea of updation of land records is done in a foolproof manner.

He also recalled how, in the 2020 assembly polls, the RJD-led grand alliance in Bihar had failed to get a majority mark by a few seats allegedly due to poll discrepancies. “Many of our candidates lost by a slender margin due to poll irregularities or else we could have easily formed the government,” Yadav alleged.

Meanwhile, ruling JD(U) and BJP have called Yadav’s yatra a futile exercise. “People of Bihar have seen development under the leadership of Nitish Kumar. There are no takers for Tejashwi and his party would only win four seats in next polls,” said Neeraj Kumar, JD(U) MLC and spokesperson.

BJP’s state spokesperson Prabhakar Mishra said the tour by the RJD leader would have no impact on the health of the NDA government.