'Krishna' Tej Pratap blames 'Arjun' Tejaswi for poll debacle

RJD leader Tej Pratap Yadav on Tuesday blamed his younger brother Tejaswi for the party's drubbing in the Lok Sabha elections, but "strongly opposed" demands of his resignation from the leader of Opposition.

"Those who distributed tickets and contested elections should take the responsibility of the defeat," Tej Pratap wrote in a letter to Tejaswi.

He requested Tejaswi, who looked into the day-to-day affairs of RJD after Lalu Prasad was jailed, to continue leading the party in the Bihar Assembly.

Drawing an analogy from the epic Mahabharata, he called Tejaswi "Arjun" and himself "Krishna", and said, "I advocate to contest the upcoming Assembly elections in 2020 in your leadership. You have to continue as the leader of Opposition. I strongly oppose to the talks of your resignation. I will stand firm with you in the 2020 Assembly and other elections ahead."

Rebel RJD leader Mahesh Yadav had demanded Tejashwi's resignation as the leader of Opposition in the state and said that if "dynastic politics" continues, many leaders including him will resign.

Tej Pratap, who fielded his separate candidate in Jahanabad, expressed discontent that his views were not taken into account in the ticket distribution process.

He said, "I always demanded to field honest, youth and local candidates dedicated to the party. I had only demanded Shivhar and Jahanabad seats because the people were demanding local candidates there."

The former Bihar minister claimed that his suggestion and demands which were "in the interest of the party" were ignored. "Being your elder brother, I urge you to hear my voices because I have always spoken in the interests of the party," he opined.

"All candidates should do an honest review of their defeat instead of blaming each other," he said.

Asserting that the party needs an honest review not blame game, he said: "I urge you to give the ticket to only eligible candidates with a clean image in the 2020 Assembly elections."

Tej Pratap also vowed to launch a movement to do away with electronic voting machines.

In the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections, the RJD failed to secure even a single seat in Bihar, while BJP-led National Democratic Alliance bagged 39 of the 40 seats and Congress won one seat.