On the floor of assembly, Tejashwi tries to get even with Nitish
Bihar Chief Minister NitishKumars personal attack on his arch rival Lalu Prasad duringthe recently held assembly elections evoked a visceralresponse from the latters son and Tejashwi Yadav, the Leaderof the Opposition, on the floor of the state assembly onFriday.
Yadav expressed righteous anger over a speech made bythe JD(U) chief in which he had made a reference to the RJDsupremos large family, without mentioning them by name, andlinked it to alleged preference of Prasad, on having a maleoffspring.
“I hope the chief minister is aware that the youngestchild of my parents was a girl, born after two sons”, saidYadav, whose elder brother Tej Pratap Yadav is also a memberof the state assembly and younger sister Rajlaxmi Yadav ismarried in the family of Samajwadi Party president MulayamSingh Yadav.
“Now let us come to the fact that the chief ministerhas only one son. Could we apply his own yardsticks and saythat he did not have another out of fear that it could be agirl”, remarked Yadav.
The young RJD leader, who was taking part in thedebate on the governors address to the newly constitutedassembly, expressed dismay that while he focused on “peoplesissues” during the elections, the ruling NDA chose to dootherwise.
“I was speaking about jobs. And I bow before thepeople of Bihar who voted for us and helped us emerge as thesingle largest party. But for manipulations by pliantofficials posted in places where results of tightly contestedelections were overturned, we might have got the chance tofulfil our promises”, Yadav alleged.
“But my opponents had other priorities. A person noless than the prime minister indulged in name calling”, saidYadav, in an oblique reference to the rallies of PrimeMinister Narendra Modi who coined the expression “jungle rajke yuvraaj” to berate the RJD leader.
“I do not like to make snide remarks against myelders. This goes against the values I have been brought upwith. I have always addressed the honourable chief minister,even in speeches uttered in the public, as chacha (uncle)”,said Yadav.
“But my point is, does it behove a chief minister tomake such utterances”, he asked with a rhetorical flourish towhich Nitish Kumar responded with a charitable laugh.
He also vowed to keep the NDA on its toes, allegingthat it was high on rhetoric but lacked “seriousness”.
Turning towards Speaker Vijay Kumar Sinha, he said,”you asked members of this House to wear masks which showsyour seriousness about the pandemic. I always carry a mask andmake it a point to wear it too. But the seriousness or thelack of it on part of this government is self-evident”.
“The last time the House had met, it was a day-longsession. It was unanimously resolved that a committee onprevention of the spread of the contagion will be set up. Thethen Speaker Vijay Kumar Chaudhary is seated right here, nowin his capacity as a member of the cabinet. The chiefminister, who was supposed to walk the talk, is also here. Youcan find out from them how serious they are”, Yadav added.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Federal staff and is auto-published from a syndicated feed.)
