Bypolls not to impact grand alliance; coalition's doors closed for 'chameleon-like' Nitish: Tejashwi

Amid disagreements over seat sharing within the Bihar grand alliance constituents for the upcoming bypolls, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav on Sunday said the elections in the state will not have any impact on the health of the secular coalition.

Yadav also described Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar as a "chameleon-like" character and ruled out any possibility in the future of him returning to the secular alliance fold.

In an interview to PTI, Yadav attacked Kumar saying he helped the RSS and BJP grow and jeopardised secular and socialist politics.

The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader hit out at the BJP-JD(U) government's response to the flood situation in Bihar, saying the entire state has helplessly watched the "insensitivity" of the Nitish Kumar dispensation and will speak at the polling booth.

"Floods, water logging, acute encephalitis syndrome deaths, Muzaffarpur shelter home case are not natural calamities but government-created disasters due to corruption," the former Bihar deputy chief minister said.

Asked about the disagreements over seat sharing among grand alliance constituents, Yadav said: "Let us understand this in perspective. These bypolls are for only five assembly segments and the age of this assembly is hardly ten more months."
Yadav said alliance partners such as HAM and VIP are innate to "our greater efforts and these by-polls shall not have any impact on the health of our alliance."