Close aides holding Nitish captive, calling shots: Tejashwi Yadav

Patna: RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav on Saturday claimed that Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar was no longer able to function normally and has become "captive" to a handful of close aides.

Yadav, who had served as Kumar's deputy until the JD(U) supremo's abrupt return to the BJP-led NDA, made the remark in response to queries from journalists here about speculations of yet another volte face by the septuagenarian leader.

"All these rumours have no substance. Nitish Kumar is no longer in his senses. He is unable to run Bihar,” he said.

"Kumar is not taking decisions on his own. He has been held captive by four leaders of his party, two in Delhi and the rest here, who are calling the shots,” claimed Yadav, who is now the Leader of the Opposition in the state assembly.

To buttress his point, the RJD leader, whose party is a part of I.N.D.I.A. bloc, cited the example of the reply to a letter recently written by former Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party supremo Arvind Kejriwal, who had urged Kumar to "rethink" the support to the BJP, in the backdrop of Babasaheb Ambedkar's alleged denigration by Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

"The letter was clearly addressed to Nitish Kumar in his capacity as the chief minister of Bihar and national president of JD(U). But the response came from Sanjay Jha. Who is he?” Yadav said.

Jha, who is the JD(U)'s working president, had come out with a lengthy response to the one-and-a-half-page letter by Kejriwal. The Rajya Sabha MP had defended Shah and slammed Kejriwal, venting spleen over the treatment given to Bihari migrants in Delhi during the Covid pandemic.

When Yadav was asked whether he thought the state of affairs in the JD(U) was causing resentment among other senior leaders, he replied, "It is for that party to manage its affairs. My concern is that Bihar is being made to suffer".

The RJD leader, who has been supporting the stir over alleged question paper leak in a BPSC exam, also said "the students are fully justified in demanding cancellation of the test. But the administration is raining blows on them".