PATNA: The political crisis in Bihar on Saturday deepened with Deputy CM Tejaswi Yadav, facing CBI charges, skipping a government function attended by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who swapped his chair with a JD(U) minister after being seated next to an RJD leader.
The organisers initially covered the nameplate of Tejaswi, the special guest at the function whose seat was next to the chief minister’s, but later removed it. The function was held to mark the World Youth Skills Day. Kumar, who was seated next to Labour Resources Minister and RJD leader Vijay Prakash, subsequently swapped his chair with JD(U) minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh, who was on his right. This was seen as an attempt by the chief minister to maintain a distance with the RJD minister.
The episode gave an indication of how the acrimony between the two alliance partners was growing with every passing day in the wake of the CBI registering an FIR against Tejaswi and others.
The developments on the dais at the newly-built Gyan Bhawan here came a day after RJD chief Lalu Prasad rejected the possibility of his son Tejaswi putting in his papers, a move seen as being dismissive of the JD(U) putting pressure on the deputy chief minister to quit.
TEJASWI HAS INSULTED CM BY SKIPPING FUNCTION: BJP
Patna: Stepping up its demand for resignation of Deputy CM Tejaswi Yadav, Bihar BJP on Saturday accused Tejaswi of insulting CM Nitish Kumar by skipping an official function attended by Kumar himself. Former deputy chief minister and senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi told media persons here that Yadav by not participating in an official function ‘ignored’ the CM, amounting to his insult. He said that Tejaswi was not attending his office since CBI raid at his premises, adversely affecting the functioning of the government as well as administration. “CM should immediately sack him from the cabinet without any further loss of time,” he remarked.
UNI
