Mediator Congress in a dilemma over JD(U)-RJD rift

PATNA: A day after Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar met Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi in Delhi, where the two are believed to have discussed the crisis in the ruling Grand Alliance in the state, Congress is faced with a dilemma while carrying out its role of a mediator between the warring RJD and JD(U).

During the meeting on Saturday, Nitish had refused to relent on his demand for his deputy Tejashwi Yadav’s resignation from the cabinet.

Sources said Nitish conveyed to Rahul his problems with Tejashwi continuing in the government after CBI named him in the FIR in the alleged land-for-railway hotels deal during RJD chief Lalu Prasad’s tenure as Railway minister in UPA1.


Congress sources said Rahul told Nitish that he would ask his party in charge for Bihar, CP Joshi, to talk to Lalu and convey the Bihar CM’s concern over the issue.

However, in discussion with party leaders, Joshi is believed to have talked about his dilemma in conveying Nitish’s message to Lalu, sources said. A Bihar Congress leader elaborated that it would be difficult for the party to broach Nitish’s demand for Tejashwi’s resignation on the basis of an FIR when Congress had allowed Himachal CM Virbhadra Singh to continue despite a chargesheet filed against him by CBI in a disproportionate assets case earlier this year.

Meanwhile, former JD(U) chief Sharad Yadav said on Sunday that nothing was more important than the continuance of the RJD-JD(U)-Congress Grand Alliance in Bihar. Yadav’s statement is seen as a backing to the Lalu camp in the alliance.

The demand for Tejashwi’s ouster is set to gain momentum in the coming days as the opposition BJP has threatened that it would stall the monsoon session of the Bihar assembly beginning July 28 if he did not quit the government.