Stung by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s parting of ways with the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) to rejoin hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), former Deputy Chief Minister and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav is all set to launch his ‘Janadesh Apman’ (‘insult to the people’s mandate’) yatra from the East Champaran district on Wednesday.
The yatra will commence from the Gandhi Maidan in Motihari, where Mr. Tejashwi will first garland the statue of Mahatma Gandhi and seek his blessing.
“I will also seek forgiveness from Mahatma Gandhi for making an alliance with Nitish Kumar, who did not honour the people’s mandate in his lust for power,” Mr. Tejashwi said.
He is expected to go to Bettiah in West Champaran and address a public meeting at the Janaki Devi High School in the Madhopur village of the Majahuli block.
‘Mandate betrayed’
Mr. Tejashwi and other RJD leaders are expected to travel all across the State and also appeal to people to come to the party’s proposed ‘BJP bhagao , desh bachao ’ mega rally in Patna on August 27.
“I, too, am itching to go to the people of the State but because of regular court appearances, I am not able to do so. Tejashwi Yadav will expose how Nitish Kumar betrayed people’s faith and the mandate they had reposed in the previous Grand Alliance government,” RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav told journalists on Monday.
He also reiterated that the August 27 event would be a massive rally in which all non-BJP party leaders would participate that would be the beginning of the end of RSS-BJP government at the Centre.
The ruling party Janata Dal-United (JD-U) leaders took a dig at Mr. Yadav’s proposed campaign, saying that he should start a ‘jail yatra’ instead as his name had cropped in graft cases.
