GA holds protest march, Tejashwi missing from the stir

The five-member Grand Alliance along with the Left parties on Wednesday took out protest march here against "anti-people" policies of both Central and the state governments, though RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav gave a miss to the stir.

RJD, the major constituent of the opposition grouping in Bihar, however, said Yadav could not participate in the "Aakrosh march" because of his engagements in the ensuing Jharkhand polls and also legal matters.

RLSP chief Upendra Kushwaha, who played a pivotal role in organising the march on behalf of alliance, had on Tuesday claimed that all the prominent leaders of the grouping will take part in the march.

Apart from Kushwaha,former chief minister and Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) president Jitan Ram Manjhi, Bihar Congress president Madan Mohan Jha and Vikassheel Insan Party (VIP) chief Mukesh Sahni attended the march in Patna which ended at Collectorate after starting from Gandhi Maidan.

CPI state secretary Satya Narayan Singh and CPI(M) leader Arun Mishra took part in the agitation along with their partymen.

The alliance leaders, however, could not give their memorandum to District Magistrate Kumar Ravi as he was not present in the office and a junior officer was sent to receive it.

The leaders decided not to give memorandum to any other officer than the DM as it was an "insult" to them.

The five-parties alliance- comprising RJD, Congress, RLSP, HAM(S) and VIP- held peaceful protest march at all the district headquarters town of the state during the day.

Asked if he was leading the march, Kushwaha, who is a former union minister of state, said "its not like that. This is neither Kushwaha's programme nor that of my party. It is an agitation programme of all the Grand Alliance partners and left parties...There is no question of any particular individual leading the march."
The HAM president, however, refused to comment on Tejashwi Yadav's absence from the march, saying that "I have nothing to say on it. Tejashwi may not have come because of his own reasons."