Patna
Union Minister Nityanand Rai on Saturday refuted the claim made by RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav that he had expressed to the latter his wish to join the RJD.
Rai charged Yadav, the leader of the opposition, with speaking asatya (falsehood).
The leader of the opposition in Bihar takes recourse to asatya so that there is confusion (bhram) which he could use to his own advantage , Rai, a former BJP president, alleged. But he should remember that the NDA is intact in Bihar and it will complete its tenure in power under the leadership of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar , said Rai, who is the union minister of state for home. Yadav had made the claim on July 18, after casting his vote in the presidential poll in response to a query from journalists who drew his attention towards Rai’s criticism of the RJD leader’s disparaging remarks against Droupadi Murmu. According to Yadav, Rai had become frustrated in BJP before landing the ministerial berth in 2019 and had expressed his willingness to jump ship. Rai on his part did not clarify whether Yadav and he ever had a one to one meeting. The BJP had launched a counter attack on the young leader. It accused him of trying to belittle Rai since RJD cannot tolerate the rise of any Yadav leader not belonging to the Lalu Prasad family . State BJP president Sanjay Jaiswal even claimed that Yadav had, indeed, once spoken to Rai on a plane but with the request to waive off corruption cases against RJD’s top leaders. His request was turned down as BJP does not interfere in the workings of investigating agencies and maintains an uncompromising stance over corruption, Jaiswal had claimed. RJD leaders had predictably alleged that the Bihar BJP chief was lying
