Eyeing to widen support base, Tejashwi to embark on rally

With a view to expanding the party's vote base ahead of the Bihar Assembly elections due later this year, RJD leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav on Sunday announced that he would crisscross the state with a rally demanding jobs for the youth.

Yadav did not specify when he would begin his "Berojgari Hatao Yatra" but said he would continue with the rally even during the five-week-long Assembly session which will begin on February 24.

"The country is grappling with the problems of recession and unemployment. I will tour every corner of the state with the Berojgari Hatao Yatra," he said.

"The RJD is not M-Y's (Muslim-Yadav) party alone. Its base is much larger. The party belongs to people from A to Z. Ours is a big family where we respect and honour every section of the society and give everyone appropriate representation," Tejashwi said.

The RJD has been known for its M-Y vote base. Party chief Lalu Prasad, who is currently serving sentence in Ranchi following his conviction in several fodder scam cases, has carefully cultivated the M-Y vote bank since its formation in July 1997 when Prasad left the Janata Dal.

Addressing a meeting of newly elected district presidents and district secretary generals of the party, the RJD heir apparent said the party has always fought for bringing the backward, oppressed and the deprived sections of the society into the mainstream and giving them voice.

The party has reserved 45 per cent of its office bearers to people belonging to SC, ST and EBC, Tejashwi said and hinted that candidates for the next elections would be chosen in this line.

He also asked the office bearers to keep off factionalism.

The leader of the opposition in the state Assembly alleged that crime graph is increasing in the state and he held both the NDA governments in Bihar and at the Centre responsible for the "poor condition" of its healthcare and education scenario.