RJD backs no-confidence motion against NDA govt, targets Nitish

The RJD today said it "totally supports" the notices of a no-confidence motion brought in Parliament against the NDA government by the YSR Congress and former NDA ally TDP on the issue of special status for Andhra Pradesh.

After win in the recently held bypoll at Araria, the RJD has three members in the Lok Sabha at present.

The party, which is the principal opposition in Bihar, also took potshots at Chief Minister Nitish Kumar questioning his "silence" on the issue of special status of Bihar and accusing him of having "sold" the interests of the people of the state in pursuit of power.

"Why is Nitish keeping silent on the issue of special status for Bihar? What has happened to his inner voice?" a tweet from the twitter handle of jailed RJD supremo Lalu Prasad said.

The official twitter handle of Prasad, who is in jail following convictions in fodder scam cases, is being managed by people close to him.

His remark was an apparent jibe at Kumar who had cited "inner voice" as the reason behind his resignation from the Chief Minister's post in July last year which came against the backdrop of corruption cases against the then Deputy CM and Prasad's younger son Tejashwi Yadav.

The JD(U) president subsequently walked out of what was then called the Grand Alliance of the RJD, JD (U) and the Congress and formed a government with the BJP and returned to the NDA.

"Keep your spine erect and learn something from leaders of Andhra Pradesh. Why did you sell the interests of Biharis for the sake of your chair, a special security cover and a special bungalow?" Prasad said.

Kumar was granted Z plus security cover in January, shortly after his cavalcade was attacked by a stone-pelting mob in Buxar district. Prasad's security cover was downgraded from Z Plus to Z a month earlier.

The Bihar Chief Minister has also been allotted a bungalow by the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs in a plush locality of the national capital.

In his tweet, RJD heir apparent Tejashwi Yadav said, "RJD totally supports the two no confidence motions (sic) against the Narendra Modi government moved in the Lok Sabha by TDP and YSRC. Special state status must be given to deserving states".

Incidentally, Nitish Kumar has been raising the demand for special status to Bihar for quite some time and made the issue a poll plank on a number of occasions. In 2009, while with the NDA, he had stated shortly before the Congress-led UPA's return to power that he would support any government at the Centre if it granted special status to the state.