NEW DELHI: RJD leader and deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav said after meeting Congress president Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi on Friday that Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's decision to join the Mahagathbandhan was a "slap on the BJP's face" and that a similar realignment of Opposition forces will take place now throughout the country.
Tejashwi also met CPI leader D Raja and CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury. According to insiders, during his meeting with Sonia at her 10 Janpath apartment, they discussed the state's cabinet enlargement, national opposition unity, and bringing up common issues like price increases and unemployment. She was informed of the new political calculations in Bihar by the RJD leader.
Talking to media persons after the meeting, Tejashwi said, "Nitish Ji's timely decision is like a slap in the face of the BJP. Except for the BJP, all political parties are one in Bihar. This will happen across the country now. People are tired of unemployment, inflation and religious clashes. It's time for all opposition parties to come together and make a strategy for the future."
The Bihar Deputy CM asserted that the regional parties' demise would spell the end of democracy and accused the BJP of attempting to do so. He exuded assurance that he will successfully lead the Mahagathbandhan government for a second time and provide sound leadership, NIE reported.
Tejashwi dismissed the BJP's claim that the union of the RJD and the JD-U was the result of an agreement. "It not part of any deal. It is a natural alliance… Bihar will emerge as the largest job provider state during this phase of Mahagathbandhan," he asserted.
When asked about the timetable for fulfilling his party's pre-election promise to create 10 lakh employment for young people, Tejashwi replied that the process will get underway as soon as his party won the assembly's vote of confidence.
The RJD leader praised Bihar's political realignment and urged other states to emulate what Bihar had done to challenge the BJP's political and authoritarian rule.
When questioned about the BJP's claim that the RJD taking back power will reinstate the "jungle raj" in Bihar, Tejashwi responded that the actual jungle raj exists at the federal level, where no one is permitted to speak up against injustice and intolerance.