Sushil Modi takes swipe at RJD; points towards Tejashwis lack of credibility

Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi on Thursday took a swipe at the opposition RJD, which heads the five-party Grand Alliance in the state, saying Tejashwi Yadav, whom it has declared as the Chief Ministerial candidate for assembly polls, lacked acceptability among alliance partners.

In a series of tweets, in which he did not mention the younger son of Lalu Prasad by name, the senior BJP leader also trained his guns at the 30-year-old for his failure to regularly take part in assembly proceedings despite being the leader of the opposition and the power struggle between him and his other siblings active in politics.

"No party has faith in the leader whom the RJD declared as the Chief Ministerial candidate for 2020 assembly polls, without consulting any of the allies. He has failed to earn reputation as a credible opposition leader in the last 32 months", Modi tweeted.

Notably, Yadav had made his electoral debut in the 2015 assembly polls when Chief Minister Nitish Kumars JD(U), the RJD and the Congress had contested in alliance and was appointed the Deputy CM at a tender age of 25.

However, the abrupt walkout of Kumar from the alliance in July, 2017, and return to the NDA, after Yadavs name cropped up in money laundering cases led to the young leader being stripped of the position of power. Chosen by Prasad, the RJDs all-powerful founding president, as his political heir, Yadav has been declared the partys chief ministerial candidate through party resolutions adopted at its national council in 2017 and 2019.

Cracks appeared within the five-party alliance which also includes Congress, former Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhis HAM, former Union minister Upendra Kushwahas RLSP and Bollywood set designer turned politician Mukesh Sahnis VIP soon after the 2019 declaration as many leaders insisted the CM candidate would be decided jointly by all the five parties.

They had also taken exception to the RJDs unilateral decision. In another tweet, Modi also lambasted Yadav for "remaining active only on the social media and failing to ask, on the floor of the House, a single question of public interest". Modi also charged the RJD leader with "remaining absent when the people of the state were reeling under disasters like brain fever and floods" and blamed these traits for the dismal performance of his party in the Lok Sabha in which it failed to win a single seat.

"The despair of the RJD crown prince has grown in the wake of power struggle within the Lalu family besides cases relating to divorce and domestic violence", added Modi alluding to the nasty marital dispute involving Yadavs elder brother Tej Pratap Yadav. Tej Pratap Yadav who married party legislator Chandrika Roys daughter Aishwarya in May, 2018 filed a divorce petition six months later. His estranged wife recently lodged a case accusing mother in law Rabri Devi and her eldest sister in law and Rajya Sabha member Misa Bharti of domestic violence.

Moreover, a tug of war is perceived to be on among Tejashwi, Tej Pratap and Misa with the elder siblings said to be feeling slighted by the growing clout of the youngest. Modi also took potshots at the RJD for its legislators names cropping up in cases of rape. In yet another tweet, he recalled the names of Raj Ballabh Yadav the Nawada MLA who lost his membership of the assembly upon conviction in rape of a minor and Arun Yadav from Sandesh,who is absconding,evading arrest upon being named in a similar case in Bhojpur district.

Apparently peeved at the BJP being labelled "anti-women" in the wake of assault on girls on JNU campus, Modi also remarked "the RJD should look within and examine its own treatment of women.. it should also tell the people who tore a copy of womens reservation bill".

In 2010, Rajya Sabha member Rajniti Prasad along with some MPs of other parties, had torn a copy of the bill on the floor of the House in protest against non-inclusion of separate quota for SC/ST and OBC women. Two years later, Prasad hit the headlines again when he infamously tore the draft of the Lokpal Bill and the RJD supremo drew widespread condemnation for failure to rein in the MP despite watching the drama from the visitors gallery.