Bihar junction: RJD leaders attribute defeat to NDA’s Rs 10K for Jeevika workers

Following an embarrassing defeat in the Bihar Assembly poll, all RJD candidates met on Monday to review the poll debacle. Both successful and defeated candidates attributed the NDA’s landslide victory to Rs 10,000 each given to Jeevika workers.

Interestingly, all party leaders remained tight-lipped on the ‘Rohini episode’ as RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, his wife Rabri Devi and their eldest daughter and Lok Sabha MP Misa Bharati arrived at the venue, 1 Polo Road, which has been allotted to the Leader of the Opposition in the Bihar Assembly and Lalu’s son Tejashwi Yadav.

Tejashwi was again elected the leader of the RJD legislative party. As the RJD has secured 25 seats in the 243-member House, Tejashwi is set to get the post of LoP as the party fulfils the 10 per cent criteria.

Most entrants refused to comment on Rohini’s remarks, who has alleged that she was abused, beaten and driven off by Tejashwi and his two aides Sanjay Yadav and Rameez Khan.

Most of the RJD leaders said they would not like to comment on a family affair. However, a former MLA and party spokesperson Shakti Singh Yadav said when Lalu handed over the charge to Tejashwi, he was authorised to deal with both internal and external interferences.

Former RJD president Jagdanand Singh said, “I do not know what happened in the family. But I do know that Sanjay Yadav is an asset for the party.”

According to the RJD sources, Lalu, right in the beginning of the meeting, told the MLAs and former MLAs not to raise ‘Rohini’s issue’, saying it was a family matter and the family would deal with it.

Meanwhile, all MLAs and defeated MLAs attributed the party’s defeat to Rs 10,000 given by the government to Jeevika workers.

Sanjeev Singh Mukesh Roshan, RJD candidate who lost from Mahua, said, “In my constituency, the turnout was 55 per cent by 5 pm. Then, I learnt it had become abnormally high at 69 per cent by the end of the polling.”

“The sum of Rs 10,000 given to women was a super-hit. It’s a big thing in Bihar, where women are facing acute poverty. These Jeevika workers encouraged others to vote for the NDA. In a blatant use of government resources and public money, Jeevika workers continued to get Rs 10,000 from the government even when the model code of conduct was enforced, while the Election Commission allowed this gross violation,” said Roshan. Bogo Singh, who won from the Matihani seat, said the government had bribed the voters.