Tejashwi Yadav Alleges Nitish Kumar Aides Blocking His Son's Political Entry Before Bihar Polls

Tejashwi Yadav claims Nitish Kumar’s aides are exploiting his “unsound state” to promote their kin, blocking Nishant Kumar’s entry and criticises PM Modi for supporting NDA leaders fostering nepotism.

File Photo of RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav

Source : PTI

Patna, Jun 18 (PTI) RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav on Wednesday claimed that close aides of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar were thwarting the political entry of the JD(U) chief's "willing" son Nishant.

Talking to reporters here, he also alleged that people attending Kumar's "bhoonja party", a colloquialism for the CM's inner circle, were busy promoting their own children.

"Nitish Kumar's 'bhoonja party' is taking full advantage of his unsound state of mind ('achet avastha'). So many of them have got their children and close relatives appointed to influential bodies," alleged Yadav, who is the leader of the opposition.

The young leader has, of late, been accusing the ruling NDA in the state of favouritism, and his taunt that the government would do better to set up a "daamaad aayog" (son-in-law commission) has triggered angry responses.

He claimed that close aides of the CM "feel threatened by the possibility of Nishant's entry into politics, even though both his father and he seem to be willing".

Notably, speculations have been rife, for some time, about Nishant, a reclusive 47-year-old, entering public life as a "successor" to his father, who is now in his 70s.

Although Nishant has, of late, grown more accessible to the media and not refraining from talking about politics, queries about his own entry into public life have always been deftly side-stepped.

Yadav also chuckled at the outbursts of Ashok Choudhary, an influential minister, whose son-in-law Sayan Kunal has been made a member of the Bihar State Board of Religious Trusts.

Incidentally, Sayan's late father Acharya Kishor Kunal, a former IPS officer, headed the trust managing the Mahavir Mandir at Patna, arguably one of the largest temples in the state.

Choudhary, a national general secretary of JD(U), had hit back at Yadav for "pot calling the kettle black", and ended up saying that Sayan, who is in his 20s, was made a member of the state board of religious trusts "from the RSS quota".

The RJD leader, who has also shared the minister's statement on his X handle, said "this only confirms what we have always been saying - the BJP-RSS has hijacked the chief minister. We look forward to more JD(U) leaders admitting the same".

Asked about Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the state on Friday, Yadav claimed, "He is not coming here to give jobs to our youth, which is the most crying need of Bihar. The PM, who likes to rail against nepotism, has no qualms about sharing the stage with NDA leaders here who are brazenly promoting their family members." 

(This report has been published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. Apart from the headline, no editing has been done in the copy by ABP Live.)