BJP’s Giriraj Singh Claims RJD Plans Merger With JDU, Tejashwi Responds

Bihar politics seems to be going through twists and turns as Union Minister Giriraj Singh has claimed that Janta Dal -United (JDU) and Rashtriya Janta Dal (RJD), the two main partners running government in the state, will merge. Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav, however, refuted the claims and said that people say such things to stay in the limelight.

Earlier, Giriraj Singh had said his trusted sources have told him that JD(U) and RJD will merge in the near future. “The Janata Dal (United) will merge with Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) soon. Once that happens, only they will tell who the CM will be then,” the minister said.

VIDEO | “The Janata Dal (United) will merge with Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) soon. Once that happens, only they will tell who the CM will be then,” says Union minister @girirajsinghbjp.

(Full video available on PTI Videos – https://t.co/n147TvqRQz) pic.twitter.com/TjWyM2OOwu

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) December 23, 2023

Reacting to it, Tejashwi Yadav said, “He (Giriraj Singh) wants to put his words into someone else’s mouth. If he doesn’t say this how will he stay in the limelight?…”

#WATCH | On BJP’s Giriraj Singh saying “JD(U) to merge with RJD soon”, RJD leader & Bihar Dy CM Tejashwi Yadav says, “He wants to put his words into someone else’s mouth. If he doesn’t say this how will he stay in the limelight?…” pic.twitter.com/VtAC4mkSAN

— ANI (@ANI) December 23, 2023

Earlier, Yadav claimed that Singh has shared with him his anxieties about fate in the BJP and the Narendra Modi government at the Centre. The Deputy CM was on the same flight as Singh on Thursday when they returned from Delhi, reported PTI.

While talking to the media, Tejashwi Yadav dismissed as “imaginary” Singh’s claim that on board the plane, his father Lalu Yadav had said it was time to make the young leader the Chief Minister of Bihar.

“It is a senseless and imaginary claim on the part of Giriraj Singh who was seated next to me (on the plane). My father was on another side,” Yadav said when asked about Singh’s claim, the agency said.

From Mutton To Lok Sabha Ticket: What Giriraj Singh And Lalu Yadav Talked About On Plane

Tejashwi Yadav said Giriraj Singh and Lalu Yadav had a brief exchange and during that, they discussed Singh’s desire to have a feast of “mutton” hosted by the RJD president. Yadav said his father replied, “But you are intent on only jhatka meat. We will try to arrange for it and then let you know”.

This was in reference to a recent appeal by Singh in his Lok Sabha constituency of Begusarai that “Hindus” give up heating “halal” meat and stick to “jhatka”, a term used for slaughter by a single blow of the blade.

“For the most part, Giriraj Singh kept talking to me, which I hesitate to reveal in public. He was obviously worried about his own prospects. The way Union ministers were pushed into states during recent assembly polls, seems to have left him rattled,” the Bihar deputy CM was quoted as saying by PTI.

He added, “Giriraj Singh is extremely worried as to whether he will be considered for a ticket in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. He also confided in me that in the Union government, none of the ministers enjoyed real power. Only one or two persons were calling the shots.”

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