RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav on Sunday slammed the two “useless” BJP deputy chief ministers of Bihar while sparing chief minister Nitish Kumar, as yet another murder in Patna handed more ammunition to the Opposition in the poll-bound state.
Local BJP farmer leader Surendra Kewat was shot dead on Patna’s outskirts late on Saturday night, just a week after prominent businessman Gopal Khemka was gunned down outside his home in the city.
Vikram Jha, a 40-year-old shop owner, fell to assailants’ bullets on Friday and the day before, sand trader Ramakant Yadav was shot dead. Except in Khemka’s murder, no suspects have been identified or arrested.
The spate of murders has turned the spotlight on law and order in the run-up to the Assembly polls, with even NDA partner and Lok Janshakti Party (Ramvilas) chief Chirag Paswan training his guns at the Nitish government.
Tejashwi, leader of the Opposition in the Assembly and the principal challenger to Nitish, however, sought to spare the chief minister, citing his poor health. This is being seen as a deft move to play on the fault lines within the ruling coalition.
“And now, a BJP leader is shot dead in Patna! What to say, and to whom? Is there anyone in the NDA government willing to listen to the truth or admit their mistakes?” Tejashwi posted on X.
“Everyone knows about the CM’s health, but what are the two useless BJP deputy chief ministers doing?”
Tejashwi had on Saturday, too, deflected Chirag’s attack on Nitish.
“How many more Biharis will fall victim to killings? It’s beyond understanding what the responsibility of Bihar Police actually is,” Chirag, a Union minister, had said in a post on X.
By questioning the Bihar Police, he seemed to be obliquely targeting Nitish, who holds the home portfolio.
Tejashwi promptly responded on X, urging Chirag to knock on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s door.
“You should go and tell the Prime Minister that ‘jungle raaj’ has set in,” he wrote.
“Jungle Raj” is a term Modi and his party habitually employ to describe the years of RJD rule (1990-2005) in Bihar, harping on the spate of kidnappings and killings the state witnessed during that period.
Modi had flagged the days of “jungle raj” at his recent rallies in Bihar, too, urging people not to forget those “dark days”.
As the RJD now tries to build a narrative around the worsening law and order in Bihar, party leaders said they had as a matter of tactics decided to make the BJP — instead of Nitish — the main target of their attacks.
Deputy chief minister Samrat Choudhary sought to defend the government against the Opposition’s allegations, saying most of the killings had been prompted by “personal enmity”.
“We are assisting chief minister Nitish Kumar. There is no organised crime in Bihar,” he told reporters.
Kewat, who had served in the BJP’s local farmer unit, had been irrigating his fields on Saturday night when gunmen shot him and sped away on a motorcycle.
“He was rushed to AIIMS Patna but died during treatment,” a local police officer, Kanhaiya Singh, told reporters.