'They want him bumped off': Rabri Devi alleges JD(U)-BJP conspiracy to 'murder' Tejashwi ahead of Bihar polls

Patna: A day after there was an ugly spat between Leader of the Opposition Tejashwi Yadav and Bihar’s Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary on the floor of the House, former Chief Minister of Bihar, Rabri Devi, on Friday alleged that there was life threat to Tejashwi and four attempts have been made to assassinate him.

“There have been four attempts to assassinate my son Tejashwi Yadav...his life is in danger.... the JD (U) and the BJP leaders are conspiring against him,” said Rabri, who was Bihar Chief Minister from 1997 to 2005.

Just a day ago, senior BJP leader and Dy CM Samrat Choudhary had told Tejashwi to “shut up as he was son of a lootera” (in an oblique reference to fodder scam convict Lalu Prasad).

Coming out after participating in the Legislative Council on Friday, Rabri Devi said she knew Samrat Choudhary since childhood. “I have known him since childhood... he used to do hooliganism at Boring Road. He used to harass girls at Boring Road,” said Rabri, whose video on shocking allegations against the Bihar Deputy CM has gone viral after a news agency posted it on X.

The BJP, meanwhile, dismissed Rabri’s allegation and assured that if required, Tejashwi’s security will be reviewed and beefed up. “Rabri Devi has come out with a false narrative. Tejashwi already enjoys Y category security. If required, his security will be reviewed and upgraded,” said Bihar BJP president Dr Dilip Jaiswal.

Threat to boycott poll

Meanwhile, the standoff between the NDA and the Opposition continues over the SIR (Special intensive revision) where Tejashwi even threatened to “boycott the ensuing Assembly poll if the EC wants to hand over the powers directly to the BJP through SIR.”

The Leader of the Opposition said, “We have always maintained that through this faulty SIR exercise, an average of 25000 voters’ names will be struck off from each and every constituency.” Bihar altogether has 243 Assembly constituencies.

Tejashwi, who has also shot off a letter to all the Opposition parties, besides NDA allies like Chandrababu Naidu and Chirag Paswan, highlighting the fault-lines in SIR, said the EC was working on an agenda to benefit the BJP. The Congress too supported Tejashwi on the issue of poll boycott. “If the EC went ahead with its agenda, we will have no option other than to boycott the ensuing Assembly poll,” said Bihar Congress president Rajesh Ram.