Tejaswi issue puts Nitish in tight spot

Sachchidanand Jha

Patna : The issue of Bihar Deputy CM Tejaswi Yadav against whom the CBI registered a case on July 5, 2017, in connection with a railways contract scam in 2006, has put the JD(U) in a tight spot. The party on July 11 decided to give him some more time.

The CBI had on July 5 also registered case against then Railways Minister Lalu Prasad and his wife and former CM Rabri Devi and others. The investigating agency had also conducted raid at Rabri Devi’s official residence, 1o, Circular Road, on July 7 and even quizzed her and her son Tejaswi.

The JD(U) would discuss the Tejaswi issue after four day even as it held a meeting of party MPs, legislators and district presidents here on July 11. Obviously, JD(U) national president and Bihar CM Nitish Kumar is finding it that much difficult to remove Tejaswi from his Cabinet as that would put his government in jeopardy. During the NDA regime, CM Nitish Kumar had removed three tainted ministers including the present HAM (S) chief Jitan Ram Manjhi from his cabinet. With the RJD on July 10 declaring that there was no question of Tejaswi resigning from his post in the wake of CBI registering a case against him, the ball is now in Nitish’s court.

Nitish knows that any indecisiveness over Tejaswi issue would expose his `Zero tolerance against corruption’ slogan before the public. Just a few months back, a very senior bureaucrat and the then then Chairman of Bihar Staff Selection Commission (BSSC) Sudhir Kumar was arrested in connection with leakage of question papers of an Assistant Grade exam. The then Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) chairperson was also jailed in 2016, connection with Intermediate toppers scam.

Will Grand Alliance government will go the UPA 2 way which had appointed RJD chief Lalu Prasad as Railways Minister despite his being chargesheeted in six fodder scam cases. Lalu has already said that he is used to handling the CBI. After all, he was jailed a few times in fodder scam cases and has so far been convicted in one case. He is still facing trial in a few fodder scam cases. Nitish is, no doubt, concerned about his image. Tejaswi issue will be an acid test of his political acumen.

The BJP has offered to extend outside support to Nitish government if the RJD withdraws support to the government if Tejaswi is sacked. But, Nitish does not appear ready yet to return to the NDA fold even as he has supported the NDA presidential pick Ram Nath Kovind.

Nitish, in all likelihood, will try to convince Lalu to ask Tejaswi to resign but the RJD has already taken a stand on the matter. This leaves Nitish with two options : allow Tejaswi to continue in the cabinet at the cost of his own image or sack him and become a crusader against corruption at the cost of his government.