Tejashwi Yadav said Nitish Kumar was an "already tired Chief Minister"
Tejashwi Yadav, the former Bihar Deputy Chief Minister who found himself outmanoeuvred in an alliance realignment blitz, has called his former ally Nitish Kumar a "Chief Minister who was already a tired man".
"It seems we made a tired CM (chief minister) work. The game is not over yet," Tejashwi Yadav, the son of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Yadav, told reporters today.
Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal (United), or JD(U), has reforged a new alliance with the BJP and formed government with the support of BJP MLAs. He took oath as Bihar Chief Minister for the ninth time.
"Khel abhi shuru hua hai, khel abhi baki hain (game has just started, it is not over yet). What I say, I do... I can give you in writing that the JD(U) will be finished in 2024. The public is with us," the outgoing Deputy Chief Minister said. "I want to thank the BJP that it got ready to induct his (Nitish Kumar's) party in their alliance," he added.
Tejashwi Yadav also credited the Mahagathbandhan, or the Grand Alliance, for the development that Bihar had seen in the past 17 months.
"Why should we not take credit for the work we have done? The Chief Minister who used to say that it is impossible to give jobs, we gave jobs and showed that it is possible. We brought new policies in tourism, IT, and sports," Tejashwi Yadav said.
"The work that was done in 17 months could not be done in 17 years. We did historic work in the 17 months," he added.
After resigning from the top post, Nitish Kumar, 72, told reporters in Patna today, "The new Grand Alliance that we created (in August 2022) is not in a good condition. The situation is not looking good."
He alleged the JD(U) has been doing a lot of work in Bihar, but the "others" - alluding to Lalu Yadav's Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) - have not done anything much.
Nitish Kumar also left a negative review of the young Opposition bloc INDIA, which was engineered by him.
"I have been working hard to make a successful, meaningful (INDIA) alliance, but no one else (in the alliance) has been doing anything... Gathbandhan main bhi gadbad chal rahan hai (something is wrong in the alliance). People are not happy," Nitish Kumar told reporters.
The INDIA alliance that was meant to face Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Lok Sabha election, due in three months, faces a daunting task now.