Tejashwi becomes RJD's national working president
Patna (PTI): RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, younger son and heir apparent of the party's founding chief Lalu Prasad, was on Sunday named national working president, in a development that puts a seal of approval on his position in the line of succession.
The 36-year-old leader, who has enjoyed two short tenures as the deputy chief minister of Bihar and is currently the leader of the opposition in the state assembly, was named for the top party post at the RJD's national executive committee meeting held at a city hotel.
Talking to reporters, RJD principal national general secretary Abdul Bari Siddiqui said, "The decision obviously had full approval of Lalu Prasad, without whose assent no decision can be taken in the party. It was a unanimous decision".
"Lalu Prasad ji, who has nurtured the party by touring every nook and corner of Bihar, is now unable to do the same because of old age and ill health. So, even though he would continue to be the national president, it will now be incumbent upon Tejashwi Yadav to expand the party's base, within the state and also outside", said Siddiqui.
The national executive meeting was attended, among others, by Yadav's mother Rabri Devi, a former chief minister herself, and eldest sister Misa Bharti, the MP from Pataliputra, who was also said to have been vying for the working president's post.
Knives had been out for the young leader ever since the party was drubbed in the recently held state assembly polls, winning only 25 seats of the 243-strong House.
Yadav, who was the "chief ministerial candidate" of the Mahagathbandhan, was said to have played an instrumental role in giving tickets to RJD aspirants and deciding seat-sharing arrangements with alliance partners, including Congress and the Left.
Addressing the national executive meeting, Yadav insisted that the cadres focus on the positives, pointing out "our alliance garnered 1.90 crore votes in the elections. Never before in the RJD's history have so many people voted for an alliance headed by us".
Taking potshots at Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who heads the JD(U), the RJD leader said, "He was with us till a couple of years ago and the INDIA bloc was conceptualised on Bihar's soil, with leaders across the country agreeing to bury their differences for defeating the BJP".
"Had chacha (uncle/Nitish) not done a volte face and returned to the NDA just ahead of Lok Sabha polls, the BJP-led coalition would not have been able to muster a majority, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi would have been denied another term in office," claimed Yadav.
He added, "Today, in politics, you are left with two options. You either fight Narendra Modi, or you fall at his feet. My path is clear as the blood of Lalu ji flows in my veins. Chacha has chosen to prostrate before Modi, and all of you must have seen his pictures".
The allusion was to a number of occasions, most recent being the swearing in of the new NDA government in Bihar in November last year, when the JD(U) supremo was caught on camera trying to touch the feet of the PM, who is just a few months his senior.
Yadav also took a veiled dig at his elder sister Rohini Acharya, who has been blaming him and his close aides, like Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Yadav, for the RJD's poll debacle.
"There are many people who made no contributions to the party's well-being. But they have lots of ambitions, and they are trying to come up with their own analysis of the party's poor show in polls, which were held immediately after the SIR", said Yadav.
"Nonetheless, Tejashwi is keen to take along all those who remain committed to the party and infuse new vigour in the organisation. Siddiqui ji very aptly mouthed the lyrics of two famous songs, 'Ham honge kamyab ek din' and 'chhodo kal ki baatein, kal ki baat purani, naye daur mein likhenge mil kar nayi kahani'," said the young leader.
Acharya, who had received much public adulation a few years ago when she donated a kidney to her father, who was in need of a transplant, failed to win the Saran Lok Sabha seat in the 2024 elections.
After the assembly polls, she alleged that Yadav and his cohorts grew livid upon her insistence that accountability be fixed for the debacle, and accused her of "donating a filthy kidney", "in exchange for crores of rupees".
She also claimed that abuses were hurled at her and a slipper was flung to hit her, which left her horrified and made her give up politics for good and snap ties with her family.
A doctor by qualification who chose to become a homemaker, settling down with her husband based in Singapore, Acharya, nonetheless, frequently comes up with comments on the goings on in the RJD on her social media profile.
Besides Acharya, another child of the proverbial "first couple" of the RJD, elder son Tej Pratap Yadav, has been estranged. He was expelled from the party several months ago by his father, but understandably at the behest of his younger brother, who is said to have grown uneasy with his volatile temperament.
Tej Pratap Yadav has since floated his own outfit, Janshakti Janata Dal.
Several senior leaders of the NDA had turned up at a feast he threw earlier this month on the occasion of "Makar Sankranti", triggering speculations that he might be thinking of aligning with the BJP-led coalition, which his father has always fought tooth and nail.
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EAM Jaishankar meets EU's Costa, von der Leyen
New Delhi (PTI): External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Sunday hoped that summit talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the top leadership of European Union will herald a "new chapter" in the two-way ties.
Jaishankar made the remarks after meeting European Council President Antonio Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
The two top leaders of the 27-nation bloc will grace the Republic Day celebrations as chief guests on Monday. They will hold summit talks with PM Modi on Tuesday.
At the summit on Tuesday, India and the EU are set to announce the conclusion of the much-awaited free trade agreement, firm up a strategic defence partnership pact and a framework for mobility of Indian professionals.
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The two sides are also expected to unveil a set of new initiatives to broadbase the overall ties besides deliberating on the disruptions caused by the Trump administration's economic and security policies.
"Delighted to welcome President @EUCouncil Antonio Costa and President @EU_Commission @vonderleyen to India," Jaishankar said on social media.
"A great privilege to have them as Chief Guests for the 77th Republic Day celebrations. Confident that their upcoming discussions with Prime Minister @narendramodi will herald a new chapter in India-European Union relations," he added.
While von der Leyen landed in New Delhi on Saturday, Costa arrived here on Sunday.
India and the European Union are on the cusp of a "historic trade agreement" that would create a market comprising two billion people accounting for almost a quarter of the global GDP, von der Leyen said at the World Economic Forum in Davos on January 20.
The relations between India and the EU have been on an upswing in the last few years.
The EU, as a bloc, is India's largest trading partner in goods. For financial year 2024-25, India's total trade in goods with the EU was worth about USD 136 billion, with exports around USD 76 billion, and imports at USD 60 billion.
