Cong biggest Oppn party, but strong regional parties must be given 'driver's seat': Tejashwi Yadav
New Delhi (PTI): Bihar Deputy Chief Minister and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav on Saturday said the Congress is the biggest party in the Opposition but wherever regional parties are strong, they should be allowed to sit in the "driver's seat" to take on the BJP in the 2024 general elections.
Yadav also said that former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad and current CM Nitish Kumar along with him were making efforts to bring together regional parties and the Congress.
"The Congress is part of the Mahagathbandhan in Bihar. In Bihar, we are the bigger party but the Congress is the biggest Opposition party in the country. Lalu ji, Nitish ji and all of us are making efforts that Congress and regional parties come together and to decide as to what is the way forward," Yadav told reporters in response to a question while leaving the CBI headquarters where he was quizzed for more than eight hours.
"One thing is clear, we have said it earlier also, wherever regional parties are strong they have to be in the driver's seat, the Congress people should understand this," Yadav said.
Wherever there is a direct fight with the BJP, the Congress should take on them, he said, adding, there are approximately 200 such seats.
Yadav was quizzed by the CBI for more than eight hours in connection with a railways land-for-jobs scam case here.
Asked about his questioning, the RJD leader said his family has always cooperated with the probe and answered all questions that were asked of them.
"The truth is that there was no scam, this is clear Everyone knows why all this is happening," he said.
His remarks came on a day when Congress leader Rahul Gandhi stressed on opposition unity and called on all opposition parties to work together.
Gandhi also noted that the ruling dispensation has given them a "big weapon" by disqualifying him from Lok Sabha.
Gandhi also thanked several opposition parties for extending their support to him in the wake of his conviction in a defamation case and disqualification from the Lok Sabha.
The Congress on Friday welcomed the statements of opposition leaders condemning Rahul Gandhi's disqualification from Lok Sabha and said it was now time for the party to take on the job of building the opposition unity in a "systematic way."
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Hamas accepts cease-fire proposal for Gaza, but Israel's stance still uncertain
Jerusalem, May 6: Hamas announced Monday it has accepted an Egyptian-Qatari cease-fire proposal, but there was no immediate word from Israel, leaving it uncertain whether a deal had been sealed to bring a halt to the seven-month-long war in Gaza.
It was the first glimmer of hope that a deal might avert further bloodshed. Hours earlier, Israel ordered some 100,000 Palestinians to begin evacuating the southern Gaza town of Rafah, signalling that an attack was imminent. The United States and other key allies of Israel oppose an offensive on Rafah, where around 1.4 million Palestinians, more than half of Gaza's population, are sheltering.
An official familiar with Israeli thinking said Israeli officials were examining the proposal, but the plan approved by Hamas was not the framework Israel proposed.
An American official also said the US was still waiting to learn more about the Hamas position and whether it reflected an agreement to what had already been signed off on by Israel and international negotiators or something else. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity as a stance was still being formulated.
Details of the proposal have not been released. Touring the region last week, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken had pressed Hamas to take the deal, and Egyptian officials said it called for a cease-fire of multiple stages starting with a limited hostage release and some Israeli troop pullbacks from Gaza. The two sides would also negotiate a “permanent calm” that would lead to a full hostage release and greater Israeli withdrawal, they said.
