With the Bihar Assembly election just months away, the ruling and Opposition party leaders are engaged in a war of words .
The Assembly election is scheduled to take place in October-November later this year.
Responding to the Leader of Opposition and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav and his party leaders’ recent attack on him for not coming out of his residence for the last 84 days during the COVID-19 pandemic, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday said though everyday he had regularly been reviewing each and everything, “where he [Tejashwi Yadav] was living, even his partymen didn’t know”.
Read: Analysis | Analysis | Nitish finds himself in the cross hairs of foes, allies
“ ‘Humko kehta hai bahar nahi nikale hain. Lockdown lagu hai, pure desh mein kaha ja raha hai ki nahi nikalna hai…pratidin ek-ek cheez ki samiksha, sara kaam kar rahe hain…khud kaha rehta hai bhag karke iska koi thikana nahi hai, party ke logo ko bhi pata nahi hai’ (He says I’ve not come out. It is lockdown in the whole country and we are told not to go outside…everyday I’ve been reviewing each and every thing, I’ve been doing all work…where does he himself live after fleeing away, nobody knows, even his partymen don’t know)”, Mr. Kumar was quoted as saying by a news agency.
Mr. Kumar, of late, has been under sharp criticism from Opposition leaders for not stepping out of his official residence 1, Anne Marg, for the last 84-days amid the COVID-19 crisis.
“Respected Chief Minister, in this hour of crisis you have not been out of your house for the last 84 days to neither review the healthcare system, the condition of the poor and labourers, nor to encourage the people of the State. You are the only Chief Minister of the country to do so. If you are afraid, I’m ready to come along with you. But please come out,” Mr. Tejashwi Yadav tweeted in Hindi on Tuesday.
He posted another tweet soon. “People of the country are saying that the Chief Minister of Bihar is scared. You misuse government machinery and resources and spend hours every day video-conferencing with your leaders, but you have not enquired about the common people. Everyone knows the condition of your quarantine centres. Wake up now at least”.
Earlier on June 8, Mr. Tejashwi Yadav’s imprisoned father and party chief Lalu Prasad too mocked Mr. Kumar for staying at home. Later, his mother and former Chief Minister Rabri Devi and other party leaders too took on Mr. Kumar for being “invisible”.
However, on Tuesday Mr. Kumar came out of his residence to hold a review meeting at Chief Minister’s official secretariat ‘Samvad’, located just 20 meters away from his bungalow. These days he has been digitally interacting with party leaders of different districts, apparently in view of the coming Assembly election.
But, Mr. Tejashwi Yadav was quick to take a jibe at this.
“To go to ‘Samvad’ which is just few steps away from CM’s bedroom, is not like stepping out. He always has been going there from inside of his official residence but, when questions were raised on his not coming out for 84 days, then he travelled 10 steps distance by car to befool people…give a clap,” Mr. Tejashwi Yadav tweeted on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, senior State BJP leader and Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi too joined the war of words between two leaders and posted a series of tweets taking on Mr. Tejashwi Yadav and his father Lalu Prasad.
“Lalu Prasad should know upon the request of which Chief Minister 4,000 special trains were commissioned for ferrying home migrants stuck during lockdown? Bihar alone accounted for 1,506 trains which served 21 lakh labourers,” he tweeted while calling Mr. Prasad, “a prisoner of the prejudices of his lantern age which rendered him incapable of understanding concepts like work from home and virtual interactions”.
“Laluism needs to be politically quarantined,” Mr. Modi said in another post while reminding Mr. Prasad that “he has been in jail for 1,095 days and that his political heir (Tejashwi) stayed away from a 33-day Assembly session after the Lok Sabha polls last year and had been out of the State for 50 days during the lockdown”.
“Should the Chief Minister have violated the lockdown to pretend to be a messiah,” asked Mr. Modi.
However, political experts of the State told The Hindu that Mr. Kumar’s “image has received a major dent for not coming out of the comfort of his official residence for so many days during crisis time as CMs of neighbouring States like Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh were leading from the front”.
