Presidential polls: Tejashwi under attack after announcing support for Sinha

PATNA: RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav on Sunday came under fire from the BJP for making disparaging remarks about NDA candidate Draupadi Murmu, a day before the presidential polls.

Bihar Assembly Leader of Opposition was asked about the decision to support Yashwant Sinha, a former Union minister, and not Murmu, who is likely to become the first tribal woman to hold the top post.

"We do not want to install a statue inside the Rashtrapati Bhavan. Has anyone of you ever heard her (Murmu's) voice? She has not even addressed a press conference since her name was announced. At least we have all heard from Yashwant Sinha and have an idea of what he stands for," the former Bihar deputy CM said.

In a stinging response, the BJP's state president Sanjay Jaiswal made a snide remark about Yadav's mother Rabri Devi, a former chief minister.

"Tejashwi Yadav has seen in his own family how an uneducated housewife was placed on the highest seat of power, ignoring many seasoned leaders in the party," said Jaiswal, referring to Rabri Devi's sudden entry into politics in the late 1990s when she replaced husband Lalu Prasad who had to step down as chief minister after being charge-sheeted in the fodder scam.

Jaiswal said Murmu was "a self-made woman" who rose from the ranks in politics and proved herself as a member of the Odisha assembly, which had once conferred upon her the award for the best MLA.

"As the governor of Jharkhand, her tenure was exemplary and non-controversial. So much so that the state's Chief Minister Hemant Soren's Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, which is not a part of the NDA, is also supporting her. But perhaps Tejashwi Yadav cannot respect a self-made woman," said Jaiswal.

Yadav was also accused of having brought ridicule upon Bihar by his remarks against Murmu and was demanded to apologise.

"Maybe he will be forgiven. He keeps saying things which make no sense, as he did recently during the prime minister's visit," he quipped, referring to Yadav's speech at a centenary function of the assembly last week during which he had fumbled badly.

With PTI inputs