Bihar assembly polls to be contested under Tejashwi's leadership: RJD
Patna, Jul 6: Lalu Prasad's Rashtriya Janata Dal on Saturday reaffirmed its faith in the leadership of his younger son Tejashwi Yadav, a day after he failed to turn up at the party's foundation day celebrations, raising many eyebrows.
At the RJD national executive meeting, where Yadav was present, the party unanimously passed a resolution declaring that it will contest the Bihar assembly polls due next year under his leadership.
The meeting was also attended by Yadav's mother Rabri Devi, elder brother Tej Pratap and eldest sister Misa Bharti in what appeared as an attempt to assert that all was well within the family, which controls the 32-year-old party, and to dismiss the speculation of a rift among the siblings vying for supremacy.
This is the second time that the party has made such a proclamation through a resolution.
It made a similar declaration at the party's national council meeting here in November, 2017 during which, among other things, Prasad was made the national president for a period ending in 2020.
Prasad went behind bars a month after the 2017 meeting, and serving sentences in a number of fodder scam cases, he is currently lodged in a Ranchi hospital on account of ill health.
The 29-year-old Tejashwi, who led the party during the Lok Sabha polls, went into a sulk after the RJD suffered its worst debacle, failing to win a single seat.
He was said to be particularly upset with Tej Pratap who launched a parallel outfit during the general elections and allowed some of his close candidates to enter the fray as rebel candidates.
At Saturday's function, however, Tej Pratap - who likes to compare the younger sibling to Arjuna and himself to Lord Krishna - gifted a copy of the Bhagavad Gita to Tejashwi.
Addressing the meeting, Tejashwi Yadav lambasted "some elements in the party fuelling rumours" of his quitting the RJD switching over to the NDA - which is in power in the state.
Notably, the RJD heir apparent had served as the Deputy CM when the Grand Alliance comprising his party, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's JD(U) and the Congress.
The party lost power after Kumar walked out of the alliance and returned to the NDA following lodging of money laundering cases against Yadav in connection with financial irregularities that took place while Prasad was the Railway Minister and the young leader a minor.
RJD patriarch Shivanand Tiwary, who had on Friday criticised Tejashwi for giving the foundation day celebrations a slip, comparing him to a "lion's cub hiding in his den", trained his guns at Tej Pratap at the national executive meet.
Without mentioning the mercurial elder brother by name, Tiwary said in his speech, "We lost thinly contested seats like Jehanabad because of the treachery of our own people. There is a need to identify such elements and expel them".
The RJD lost Jehanabad by a margin of just about 1,000 votes, much less than the votes polled by a rebel candidate said to be a loyalist of Tej Pratap Yadav.
However, talking to reporters on the sidelines of the function, Tiwary clarified, "It is not my intention to berate the young leaders. Their father is like my younger brother. My concern for them is similar to what a father will have for his own children. Moreover, we are faced with a situation where trivial squabbles must be given up for fighting a bigger battle".
Meanwhile, dissident MLA Maheshwar Yadav - who has for long been stressing on the need for a change in party leadership - caused a flutter saying, "We should learn from the example set by Rahul Gandhi who has stepped down as Congress president".
"I would urge Lalu Prasad and his family to do something similar. Prasad could himself give up the party president's post and install someone he trusts, someone like (party MLA and national general secretary) Bhola Yadav to the top post. Similarly, Tejashwi Yadav and Rabri Devi should give up the post of Leader of Opposition in the state assembly and legislative council respectively," Yadav said.
"Abdul Bari Siddiqui, who has formerly been Leader of the Opposition in the assembly, should be reconsidered for the post. State president Ram Chandra Purbe, a member of the legislative council, could replace Rabri Devi. This would infuse fresh energy into the party," Yadav said while being away from the venue of the national meeting, where leaders refused to comment on his remarks.
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Bengal: On way to PM's rally, 3 mowed down by train amid dense fog
Kolkata (PTI): Three persons died and three others were injured after being hit by a train amid dense fog on Saturday, while travelling to attend Prime Minister Narendra Modi's rally at Taherpur in West Bengal's Nadia district, a senior official said.
The incident occurred between Taherpur and Badkulla railway stations under the Sealdah-Krishnanagar section of Eastern Railway, he said.
Modi, whose helicopter could not land at Taherpur due to dense fog and low visibility, condoled the death of the “BJP workers” in his virtual address from Kolkata airport.
“I have come to know that some BJP workers, while travelling to the rally, lost their lives in a rail accident. My condolences are with the families of those who have lost their loved ones, and I pray for the speedy recovery of the injured,” Modi said.
The Eastern Railway official told PTI that the incident occurred in the morning when these people, who were travelling by a bus, had stopped the vehicle and walked to the railway tracks to answer nature's call.
"While three persons died on the spot, two others with injuries were admitted to a local hospital," he said.
Another person with minor injuries was released after having been administered first aid, the official said.
The deceased have been identified as Ramprasad Ghosh (74), Shaktipada Sutradhar (55) and Gopinath Das (38).
Meanwhile, Mahua Moitra, Trinamool Congress MP from Krishnanagar constituency in Nadia district, alleged that the BJP ignored the incident and went ahead with the rally.
"Terrible tragedy hushed up at altar of @narendramodi ego. @BJP4India supporters brought from far Murshidabad for PM rally in Ranaghat today," she said in a post on X.
"4 went to answer nature's call and were killed by 31814 down local train near Taherpur. BJP ignored, blacked out & went ahead with rally," Moitra claimed.
Reacting to her remarks, the West Bengal BJP, in a post on X, asserted that the TMC "has always been adept at milking tragedies", and was being "disrespectful to the unfortunate victims of this tragedy".
The TMC alleged that BJP leaders have not shown "neither concern nor compassion" over the mishap.
"The loss of three lives in Taherpur should have united everyone in grief. But @BJP4India leaders showed neither concern nor compassion," it said in another post on X.
"At this painful moment, Smt @MamataOfficial and Shri @abhishekaitc put humanity above party lines and stood beside the families of the deceased," the party said.
TMC’s on-ground leaders promptly reached out to the grieving family members, ensuring them of help and assistance, it said.
"While Delhi’s rulers chase Bengal with arrogance, our leadership chose empathy. This is the difference between politics of power and politics of people!" the TMC added.
