All the 80 MlAs of RJD on Friday held a meeting but did not elect the leader of the legislature party. During the one-and-a-half-hour-long meeting, the legislators authorised party supremo lalu Prasad, who was also present, to nominate the leader. The indications coming out of the meeting gave a broad hint that most of the MlAs, mostly new faces and youth, favoured lalu’s younger son Tejaswi Yadav as the leader.
lalu told media, “I have been authorised and I will nominate the leader.” The RJD chief, who was accompanied by former CM Rabri Devi at the meeting, did not announce the name of the legislature party leader due to some ‘unavoidable’ reasons.
Sources said even though Tejaswi seems to be the first preference of the majority of the party MlAs, 44 of them elected first time, but lalu has to maintain balance amid the report that eldest son Tej Pratap is also favoured by members of the family. lalu is likely to take senior leaders of the party in confidence before making a selection and it might be Tejaswi or someone else.
lalu said there had been no discussion on the election of the leader. He said the legislature party passed three resolutions. The first resolution thanked and congratulated the people of Bihar for giving Mahagathbandhan a historic mandate and defeating the BJP led NDA. “The Bihar voters have voted so decisively that people across the country are celebrating. This result will have far reaching consequences on the country’s politics. We pledge to make a prosperous State of peoples’ aspirations,” the resolution read.
The RJD supremo said the meeting also endorsed name of Nitish Kumar as the leader of the three parties Mahagathbandhan for the post of Chief Minister. Another meeting of the RJD legislature party will be held on Saturday at 1 pm and after that they would march to the Assembly annexe where a meeting of the legislators of the Mahagathbandhan is scheduled at 3pm.
On Saturday, the legislature party meetings of the JD(U) and Congress would also be held separately to elect their respective leaders. After the joint meeting of Mahagathbandhan, CM Nitish Kumar is likely to meet Governor Ramnath Kovind and submit resignation of his Cabinet and stake claim for the formation of new Government. On Sunday morning, the last Cabinet meeting of the present Government would be held.