Leader of the Opposition in the Bihar Legislative Assembly and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav and party MLA Tej Pratap Yadav and other MLAs leave after attending the Budget session of the State Assembly, on March 4, 2025.
| Photo Credit: ANI
The Bihar Assembly on Tuesday (March 5, 2025) witnessed a sharp exchange of words between the Leader of the Opposition, Tejashwi Yadav and the ruling National Democratic Alliance leaders during the discussion on the Governor’s address to the joint session of the Legislature.
While Mr. Yadav slammed the NDA government led by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, the ruling alliance leaders targeted the earlier RJD regimes led by Lalu Prasad and Rabri Devi.
Criticising the Budget presented by the Nitish Kumar government on February 3, Mr. Yadav said, “We had asked the government to announce a monthly amount of ₹2,500 for women, 200 units of free power, and some other pro-people measures. But none of them were fulfilled. They would have got the credit but they failed to grab the opportunity. The RJD promises to give these benefits to the people when it forms the next government.”
“It is the last Budget for the BJP-led NDA government to do something for the people as it is not going to return to power…. This government is a wreck. The system is useless. The Chief Minister is tired and defeated while the common man is wandering around helplessly. Even if this government stays for 40 years more, it will keep making the same allegations of what happened before 2005,” he said.
Speaking on the reservation issue, Mr. Yadav said it was Mr. Lalu Prasad who had extended reservation from 12% to 14% during his tenure. “And in 2000, when Rabri Deviji became the CM, she extended it to 18%”.
He said when the RJD was in power in the State with the JD(U) in 2023, it had increased the reservation to 65%. “But, BJP conspired to get the policy overturned in court,” he said.
Launching a scathing attack on Deputy CM Samrat Choudhary, Mr. Yadav said it was Mr. Lalu Prasad who had first made Mr. Choudhary a Minister in his Cabinet.
“He [Mr. Choudhary] is a newcomer in the BJP… he has made several rounds of other parties before joining BJP… earlier he used to abuse the BJP… we still remember what he had said about BJP… what happened now Samratji?,” Mr. Yadav said.
In response, Mr. Choudhary asserted that wherever (the political parties) he had been he was there with his “strong convictions”.
“What did your father say? He looted Bihar. He looted the poor. He robbed the whole State,” Mr. Choudhary said.
He also targeted Mr. Lalu Prasad and Ms. Rabri Devi for not providing significant reservation during their 15-year regime.
He said that it was the Nitish Kumar-led government which had enhanced reservation in the State but Mr. Yadav was taking credit for it.
“I’ve been to jail also. Lalu Prasadji had sent me to jail,” Mr. Choudhary said.
The RJD leader also targeted Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who was not present in the House. Mr. Kumar, who later came to the Assembly, slammed the RJD regime from 1994 to 2005.
“What was there earlier in Bihar. It was me who made your father [Mr. Lalu Prasad] what he became. Even people from your caste (Yadav) were asking me why I was doing all this but I supported him,” Mr. Kumar said.
Published – March 05, 2025 03:32 am IST
