After Congress’ annoucement that they will stake claim to form government in Goa , Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejaswi Yadav on Thursday said that the party MLAs will meet Bihar Governor Satya Pal Malik at 1 p.m. on Friday, May 17 to stake claim to form the goverment in the State.
The RJD will also hold a one-day dharna across the State in protest of Karnataka Governor Vajubhai Vala’s decision to invite BJP to form government in the State, Mr. Yadav said in a press conference.
“I would like to ask BJP and JD(U) chief Nitish Kumar whether they had made a mistake in Bihar by not inviting single largest party to form the government,” Mr. Yadav added. “Why the double standard? Single largest party gets invited to form government in Karnataka but not in Bihar. Why did the BJP come in through back door to form government with JD(U) in Bihar?” he asked.
Though the RJD-JD(U) ‘mahagathbandhan’ won the 2015 Assembly elections in Bihar , the alliance broke in 2017 with Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) aligning with the BJP to form the government. The RJD, with 80 seats was the single largest party in the State. JD(U) won 71 seats, while the BJP won 53.
Mr. Yadav in press conference also appealed to all Opposition parties to “join hands together and reach Karnataka to protest”.
Mr. Yadav raised the issue of BJP being given 15 days to prove the majority and asked how would party reach the magic figure. “The BJP will reach the magic figure in 15 days? What will they do? Why (was) RJD was given just twi days time to form the government but BJP was given 15 days time to prove majority?” Mr. Yadav asked.
He added that Mr. Yeddyurappa should not have taken oath on moral grounds.
“Karnataka is not in South but in the country. We should all reach there to protest murder of democracy,” he said, and added that today it was Karnataka, tomorrow “they will replicate in other states too.”
“It's all BJP's greed to form the government. Democracy is in danger in the country today,” he said.
(With inputs from Amarnath Tewary)
