JOIN USAmid disagreement over seat-sharing within the Bihar grand alliance constituents for the upcoming bypolls, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav on Sunday said the elections in the state will not have any impact on the health of the grouping.
Yadav also described Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar as a "chameleon-like" character and ruled out the possibility of any tie-up with him.
The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader hit out at the BJP-JD(U) government's response to the flood situation in Bihar, saying the entire state has helplessly watched the "insensitivity" of the Nitish Kumar's dispensation and will speak through the EVMs.
"Floods, waterlogging, acute encephalitis syndrome deaths, the Muzaffarpur shelter home case are not natural calamities but government-created disasters due to corruption," the former deputy chief minister of the state said.
Asked about the disagreements over seat-sharing among grand alliance constituents, Yadav said, "Let us understand this in perspective. These bypolls are for only five assembly segments and the age of this Assembly is hardly 10 more months."
Disagreement among grand alliance constituents came to the fore when Jitan Ram Manjhi's Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) fielded a candidate against the RJD in Nathnagar, while Vikassheel Insan Party led by Mukesh Sahni named its candidate for the Simri Bakhtiyarpur seat.
By-elections will take place on October 21 for the Samastipur Lok Sabha seat necessitated by the death of the sitting LJP MP, as also for Daraunda, Nathnagar, Simari Bakhtiarpur, Kishanganj and Belhar assembly segments with the incumbent JD(U) MLAs and a Congress MLA getting elected to Parliament.
Yadav said alliance partners such as HAM and VIP are innate to "our greater efforts and these by-polls shall not have any impact on the health of our alliance."
All grand alliance partners are well aware of the anti-people policies of the central and state governments and they would remain in solidarity with the cause of the people, the leader of the opposition in the Bihar Assembly said.
The churning on the ground is massively against the BJP-JDU government in Bihar and they shall not be able to repeat the general election result of May 23rd, he said.
The 'mahagathbandhan', as the grand alliance is called, comprises the RJD, the Congress, Upendra Kushwaha's Rashtriya Lok Samata Party, the HAM, Sharad Yadav's Loktantrik Janata Dal (LJD) and the Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP).
Yadav alleged that the BJP floated "fictional narratives" in recent elections while conveniently ignoring peoples' everyday life issues.
Slamming the state government over its response to the devastation caused by floods, he said the Nitish Kumar and Sushil Modi-led dispensation unsuccessfully tried to put the blame on '"nature's fury" without acknowledging what they had done with respect to civic amenities.
"The day Mr Sushil Modi was rescued by the NDRF team, many in Bihar said that the entire government should have been rescued," the 29-year-old leader said.