Patna: Leader of the Opposition Tejashwi Prasad Yadav on Thursday taunted chief minister Nitish Kumar over Union minister Ashwini Choubey's son Arjit Shashwat addressing journalists in Patna on Wednesday.
Tejashwi said it was a matter of shame for the chief minister that the BJP leader's son is throwing an open challenge to the state government while the police cannot arrest him. "I pity Nitish ji that central minister Ashwini Choubey's son openly challenges him," Tejashwi said.
"By holding a media interaction he has sent a strong message to the Bihar government that 'Mr CM, your FIR against me is garbage.' By daring to 'arrest me if you can', Choubey's son is kicking Nitish's rule of law in broad daylight."
Even after Bhagalpur police declared Shashwat an absconder over last week's flare-up in the district, he addressed journalists in Patna on Thursday. Shaswat is among the 21 persons named accused and booked under non-bailable sections of the IPC in the case lodged in Nathnagar police station of Bhagalpur on March 17. The case pertains to a religious procession in Bhagalpur town, which the police say was taken out without the district administration's permission.
"I'm wondering how the BJP leader's son was not arrested even after being declared an absconder and booked for a non-bailable offence," the RJD leader said.
"He is simply challenging Nitish's police and administration. He is roaming here and there and holding media interactions, but the police dare not arrest him. Is Nitish ji waiting for riots to take place before arresting him or is he giving him enough time to make a deal with the cops."
Tejashwi said the chief minister's claim that he will not compromise with the forces causing social strife in the state was mere posturing.
"There was a time when Sushil Modi used to give the example of Raj Ballabh Yadav and Mohammad Shahabuddin," Tejashwi said. "Where is he hiding now? In which hole? Why isn't he saying anything on Choubey's son?"
He reiterated his mother Rabri Devi's demand asking the state government not to allow Giriraj and Ashwini to enter the state before Ram Navami. Tejashwi expressed fear the duo will make provocative speeches during the festival and further disturb communal harmony.
Sharad on alliance
Former JDU MP Sharad Yadav spoke in Lucknow about forming a grand alliance against the "communal" BJP before the 2019 general elections. A fight for social justice alone can stop the communalism being spread by the BJP, the PTI quoted him as saying.
"I am touring the entire country and meeting people. I hope a grand alliance will come up against the BJP by 2019," he said. Sharad, who was once the NDA convener, said: "I am working to unite parties against the BJP as its ideology is communal. When I was the NDA convener, it was under Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Lal Krishna Advani's leadership and it had a national agenda. That has changed now. This agenda has turned divisive now. The present government at the Centre is dividing people in the name of religion," he said.
