Bihar Assembly Session begins Friday; will Tejashwi Yadav resign as Deputy CM?

Patna: The ongoing political crisis threatening Bihar's 'Grand Alliance' is likely to see new twists and turns when Chief Minister Nitish Kumar returns to the state capital after attending the swearing in ceremony of President Ram Nath Kovind.

According to Prabhat Khabar, the Chief Minister is likely to use the pressure tactics to ensure his deputy Tejashwi Yadav – facing corruption charges – steps down voluntarily.

The Janata Dal United leader is concerned about his government's clean image and does not want the corruption taint on RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav and his family members to reflect badly on his government.

Reports also claimed that the RJD, a partner in the coalition government government in Bihar – is likely to withdraw Tejashwi as Deputy CM, a day ahead of the commencement of Bihar Assembly session on Friday.

So far, the chief minister has not made any direct demand to the RJD for sacking Tejashwi as the Dy CM in the wake of corruption allegation against him.

Both Lalu and his son Tejashwi were charged with corruption by the CBI which also conducted raids at their residence in Patna along with other properties owned by them. 

With the pressure mounting on the RJD chief to sack his son, Tejashwi last week met with the Chief Minister to explain his case.

After that meeting, Congress, which is the third member of the Bihar government, tried to broker peace between Nitish Kumar and Lalu Yadav, but in vain.

Over the weekend, Nitish Kumar also held parleys with Congress No 2 Rahul Gandhi over the political situation in Bihar, however, nothing concrete came out.

Meanwhile, Lalu Yadav is scheduled to leave for Ranchi from Patna tomorrow evening to appear before a court in connection with a corruption case trial.

However, a little before that, Lalu Yadav will meet nearly 80 MLAs to deliberate on the current political crisis involving his son.

According to political experts, next 72 hours are crucial as a decision on Tejashwi Yadav's continuation in the Nitish government may be taken by RJD.