Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's decision to form the Mahagathbandhan government wa♛s a "slap on the BJP's face" and a similar coming together of Opposition parties will be replicated across the country, Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav said on Friday after meeting Congress chief Sonia Gandhi.
The Rashtriya Janata Dal leader, who met Gandhi at her 10 Janpath residence here, accused the BJP of working to finish regional parties and asserted that if they aܫre finished, the Opposition and democracy will be finished as well.
Yadav, who also met CPI(M) genera🧔l secretary Sitaram Yechury and CPI general secretary D Raja, said the pre-poll constituents of the Mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) have welcomed the decision by Nitish Kumar.
"T𒉰his government will run strongly because this government is a government for the poor...it is the government of the people. The decision by Nitish Kumar at the right time, you can say, is a slap on the BJP's face," he told reporters outside 10 Janpath.
Yadav said all parties have joined hands against the BJꦛP in the Bihar Assembly, and added 🔴"now this is going to be replicated across the whole country".
"People are suffering due to inflation. T🐈here are those who want to rule by cre𓂃ating Hindu-Muslim tensions, put the Constitution and democracy in danger, they want to break the brotherhood, Bihar has once again given a new direction to the country," he said.
"For that we thank the chief minister, Sonia Gandhi ji, Yechury ji, Dipank𒈔ar ji(Bhattacharya, CPI-ML general secretary), Raja ji and Lalu (Prasad) ji📖," he said.
Yadav said Lalu🅰 Prasad fought a♌gainst communal forces and social justice.
"He (Lalu) never got scared nor did he bow꧒ before such forces," Yadav added.
He accused the BJP of destroying regional parties, citing the happenings in Maharashtra🍸 and Jharkhand.
"BJP wants to scare those who get scared ꦅand buy those who are willing to be bought out," Yadav alleged.
"Cons🧜titutional institutions are being destroyed. Be it Enforcement Directorate, Central Bureau of Investigation or Income Tax (Department), their condition is worse than police stations. Who do they want to scare? We, the people of Bihar, are not going to be scared. I have said 'Bihari bikaau nahi, tikaau hota hai' (People of Bihar cannot be bought out, they ar🌳e reliable)," he said.
They will never compromise with their self-respect, Yadav said, adding Bihar and🍸 Nitish Kumar have shown this.
Alleging that the BJP wants to destroy regional parties, he said regional parties are mostly of backwards and Dalits and the BJP wants to finish 🐽such parties.
"You wanted to finish Nitish Kumar, you created division in Ram Vilas Paswan ji's party. If regional parties are finished, Opposition will be finished, democracy will be 🍬finished. If democracy is finished, the country will be run in a dictatorial manner," he said.
Yadav's visit to Delhi, the first to the national capit🌱al after taking the oath of office, also holds significance as Rashtriya Janata Dal supremo Lalu Prasad is here and the finalisation of names of ministers is set to be hܫigh on the agenda during discussions between the two.
The cabinet, which at pre🧔sent comprises only Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Yadav as his deputy, is due for expansion early next week.
Earlier, he me꧅t 𒅌Yechury and Raja here and is learnt to have discussed the developments in Bihar as well as the way forward.
After the meeting, Yadav said in a tweet that he met the two Left leaders and had a positive discussion on the current social, economic and political scenario prevailing in the coun𒁃try and Bihar.
"Bihar, the land which gave birt🤡h to de꧅mocracy, has again shown the way to the country," Yadav said in a tweet in Hindi.
He also celebrated Ra🥀ksha Bandhan witဣh his sisters here.
Yadav is likely to be 🧸back in Bihar soon for the cabinet expansion expected immediately after Independence Day.
The expansion would be followed, later this month, by a special session of the assembly when the new government will prove its 𝓰majority on the floor.
The RJD leader se🏅rved as deputy chief minister of Bihar from 𝓡2015 to 2017.
Kumar and Yadav had taken oath on Wednesday, a day after the JD(U) snapped ties with the BJP-led NDA and joined hands with the RJD, the Congress and so♚me other parties to form a ‘Mahagathbandhan’ government.
(With PTI inputs)
