Patna (Bihar) [India], February 27 : In a scathing attack on Tejashwi Yadav and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Bihar Bharatiya Janata Party President Dilip Jaiswal criticized the party's record on reservations.
Speaking to the ANI, Jaiswal questioned, "Did anyone get reservation during their (RJD's) tenure?... They did not give reservations; on the other hand, when Nitish Kumar made reservation provisions, he (Tejashwi Yadav) opposed it?"
Jaiswal went on to accuse Tejashwi Yadav of hypocrisy, stating, "Who can be a bigger 'cannibal' than a leader who has been convicted in the fodder scam?" The BJP leader's comments were aimed at highlighting what he perceives as the RJD's failure to support reservation provisions and criticizing Yadav's role in the ongoing political landscape.
Earlier, in his post on X, Tejashwi Yadav accused the BJP of stealing reservations in the state alleging that the 65 percent reservations given by the government in which the RJD was a part were not included in the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution by the BJP-NDA Central Government.
In his post Yadav said, "Just like there is a cannibal, similarly BJP is a reservation eater and a reservation thief. In a short tenure of 17 months the 65% reservation increased by us for Dalits-Adivasis and backward-most backward classes after caste census was not included in the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution by the BJP-NDA Central Government and got it entangled in a case."
"Due to non-implementation of 65% reservation in more than 350000 jobs under process in Bihar, the candidates from SC/ST, OBC and most backward classes are suffering the direct loss of 16 % reservation, due to which more than 50000 youth from these classes have lost their jobs. Everyone has to unite and teach a lesson to the reservation thieves BJP-NDA," he added.
The RJD also accused the centre of ignoring Bihar by not giving the state a special status, claiming that the BJP government would have to answer for this.
"Bihar, which needed the most financial help and special state status, was once again ignored by the BJP-NDA government in the Union Budget. No special state status, no discussion on employment, no expenditure on improving health facilities, no arrangement for factories and industries, no detailed plan to stop migration, no trains and no major investment projects and no special financial assistance for permanent solutions to disasters like floods and droughts. Will the BJP and its allies continue to ignore the voice of Bihar? The NDA government of 20 years in the state and 11 years in the Centre will have to answer. In 2025, everyone will be held accountable, there will be a change in Bihar," he claimed in a post on X.