Bihar: Tejashwi Prasad Yadav sorry for ‘any mistake’ during RJD regime

PATNA: The NDA has made the 15 years of incumbent Nitish Kumar versus 15 years of RJD regime as an election issue in state going to the polls in October-November. This was a hot topic of discussion on Friday after leader of opposition in the state assembly, Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, sought an apology from people for any mistake committed in the 15 years of the Lalu-Rabri rule.
“Yes, we had been in power for 15 years, but I was small that time and I was not in the government, though our party was ruling. One cannot deny the fact that Lalu ji had done social justice. That was another era. But if we did any mistake in those 15 years, then I am sorry for that,” said Tejashwi while addressing his party workers at the RJD headquarters on Thursday.
However, soon after his statement, ruling NDA leaders took a dig at Tejashwi for his apology. “People have not forgiven Congress for the Sikh riots and the Kashmir situation. Similarly, people of Bihar will never forgive RJD for crime, murder, rape, kidnapping and migration which took place during their rule,” said BJP state spokesperson Nikhil Anand. He said Tejashwi was just doing drama and added, “Has Lalu ji ever apologised? Now, Tejashwi cannot befool people with such political stunt.”
Even JD(U) took a jibe at Tejashwi. Party’s state spokesperson Anjum Ara said, “Since Tejashwi is the political successor and has got Rs28,000 crore and a mall in legacy, he will have to carry the burden of all mistakes which his party had committed.” She further said people will forgive him only after he returns the money grabbed by wrong means to the poor and stops giving shelter to criminals like Arun Yadav.
Ruling NDA has been criticising the RJD for their 15 years (1990-2005) of “misrule”. Apart from several poster wars on this issue, chief minister Nitish Kumar had even asked his party workers to tell the new generation what Bihar was during the pati-patni (Lalu-Rabri) regime.
RJD state spokesperson Chitranjan Gagan, however, said Tejashwi was now their party leaders and it would be better to judge him through the work he did as deputy chief minister of Bihar and state’s road construction minister. “He (Tejashwi) was holding these charges for 20 months and did great development works in that period. Many pending schemes got approval and no one can point figure on him,” he told TOI.