Tejashwi, son of RJD leader and Lalu Prasad Yadav, alleges that NDA won the Bihar Assembly elections by paying a bribe of Rs 40 thousand crores. He also alleges that the Election Commission and the government machinery helped the NDA win the elections. The discussion on losing the elections is still going on in RJD, but Tejashwi has already concluded about the defeat of the Grand Alliance. An attempt was made to blame EVMs also, but Tejashwi failed in this. Perhaps that is why when the results came, his elder brother Tej Pratap, who is now estranged from the family, called him ‘failswee’. If the allegations are kept aside and the real reasons for Tejashwi Yadav’s flop are investigated, it will be revealed that his father has been continuously creating obstacles in his path.
Did not prevent the 2015 alliance from breaking up
When Nitish Kumar joined Lalu Yadav in 2015 after separating from NDA, the Grand Alliance achieved a big victory. But, Lalu Yadav made haste. His two sons – Tej Pratap and Tejashwi Yadav also reached the assembly after winning the elections on RJD ticket. Lalu put pressure on Nitish and made younger son Tejashwi as Deputy CM and elder son Tej Pratap as minister. Lalu family’s interference in government decisions also started increasing. Nitish Kumar is used to running the government with independence. Obviously Nitish would have found this distasteful. He started looking for an excuse to leave the Grand Alliance from the very day Lalu’s sons had to give him important portfolios in the cabinet. This opportunity came when Tejashwi’s name was also linked to the job in exchange for land case. Describing his policy of zero tolerance on corruption, Nitish asked Tejashwi to go among the public and give clarification. Tejashwi did not pay attention to his words. As a result, in 2017, Nitish broke his ties with the Grand Alliance. BJP was already ready for him. With the support of BJP MLAs, he formed the NDA government. Lalu’s haste to promote his sons destroyed the strong unity of the Grand Alliance.
No use of veto for Nitish
Lalu Yadav was once again successful in his strategy. Nitish had contested the 2020 elections while being in the NDA. They got less seats in the assembly because of the then LJP (now LJP-R) chief Chirag Paswan. JDU was reduced to 43 seats. BJP became the largest party in the assembly with 75 seats. Despite this, BJP appointed Nitish Kumar as CM. Nitish, on his part, never revealed whether Chirag Paswan’s separation from the NDA and fighting was a conspiracy by the BJP or a coincidence, but it was widely discussed in the media that if Chirag calls himself Narendra Modi’s Hanuman, then why did he contest the elections against the NDA, whose leadership was with the BJP. People were also feeling the smell of BJP’s conspiracy because Chirag had fielded candidates against JDU, but had spared BJP. Well, Nitish took revenge for his internal resentment against BJP by leaving it in 2022. Nitish formed the government with the help of the grand alliance led by Lalu-Tejashwi. While giving him help, Lalu had taken a promise that in 2025, Bihar Assembly elections will be held under the leadership of Tejashwi and Nitish will do central politics. Nitish also announced this in the presence of Tejashwi in a meeting in Nalanda. But, once Nitish felt the need of Lalu’s help, Lalu did not use the veto.
Left Nitish and made Rahul the groom.
For Nitish Kumar, Lalu Yadav advised him to take initiative and unite the opposition parties. Then become the PM face and lead the opposition in the Lok Sabha elections in 2024. The then RJD state president Jagdanand Singh used to tell this to the media with great enthusiasm. They used to say that Lalu has vaccinated Nitish for victory. Whoever Lalu blesses becomes PM. In this sequence, he also mentioned the names of two former Prime Ministers – HD Deve Gowda and Inder Kumar Gujral. Well, Nitish tried on Lalu’s instigation, but when there was a meeting of opposition parties in Patna, Lalu proposed Rahul Gandhi to become the groom. The leadership of the opposition alliance went to the Congress and Rahul Gandhi became the PM face. Now only the post of coordinator is left in the alliance for Nitish. If Lalu wanted, Nitish could have got this post, but he did not use the veto and Congress ended the concept of convenor saying that there was no need for it. This mistake of Lalu came to the fore in the form of Nitish returning to NDA again in 2024.
Pressured to make Tejashwi the CM
Lalu is in a hurry since 2015 that Tejashwi becomes the third CM in his family. If Lalu made him Deputy CM in 2015, he must have felt that now he has to climb one notch. In this sequence, he also made Jugaad clash with Nitish in 2022. Arrangements were made to send him out of Bihar by showing him dreams of national politics, becoming PM face and convenor. Encouraged by this, Nitish set out to form an alliance of opposition parties on the lines of the Grand Alliance. Meanwhile, statements of RJD leaders kept coming in the media that Tejashwi is going to become CM soon. Some even started telling the month, day and date. It is not known whether this would happen or not, but signs of it were beginning to emerge. Nitish himself saying that the next elections will be held under the leadership of Tejashwi was a big sign. When Nitish, feeling humiliated, decided to separate from the India Bloc, the possibility of vacating the throne of Bihar came to an end. Because if Nitish had not done central politics, he would have definitely remained in Bihar. The limit was reached when big leaders of RJD, while being with Nitish, started calling the achievements of the government as achievements of Tejashwi and RJD.
Lalu has remained silent even after the demolition of his house.
Lalu Yadav ignored his family in his hurry to make Tejashwi the CM. First Tej Pratap was thrown out of the house. Lalu felt that Tej Pratap’s love affair could become an obstacle in Tejashwi’s path, so he suddenly issued an order to expel him from the party and family. Rohini Acharya, the daughter who donated kidney to Lalu, had already opened a front against Tejashwi’s advisor Sanjay Yadav before the elections, which came to the fore in a more formidable form after the results came out. Crying, Rohini left Rabri’s house making many serious allegations. In all these matters, Lalu, being a father, should have intervened and resolved the matter, but due to Tejashwi’s infatuation, he thought it better to remain silent. This too may be a small reason for influencing the election results, but it certainly became a reason. Tej Pratap formed his own separate party Janashakti Janata Dal and challenged Tejashwi on many seats.
This is also a historical mistake of Lalu
Lalu Yadav made one more mistake, which can be considered as his historical mistake. When Lalu became the Chief Minister for the first time in 1990, BJP also supported him. Had his relationship with BJP at that time remained intact, Tejashwi might not have faced so much trouble today. What happened was that Lalu arrested Lal Krishna Advani who had gone on the Rath Yatra for the construction of Ram temple. Angered by this, BJP withdrew its support. Lalu saved the government with the help of other parties, but his relations with BJP ended forever. Today BJP has become a big force in Bihar. Once Nitish Kumar came close to BJP, he has remained so till now and despite getting less seats, BJP has been making him the Chief Minister. BJP had extended the hand of friendship to Lalu, but he refused. Today Lalu must be regretting leaving the BJP.
