The political crisis in Bihar deepened on Saturday with Deputy Chief Minister Tejaswi Yadav, facing CBI charges, skipping a government function attended by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who swapped his chair with a JD(U) Minister after being seated next to a Rashtriya Janata Dal leader.
The organisers initially covered the nameplate of Tejaswi, the special guest at the function whose seat was next to the Chief Minister’s, but later removed it.
The function was held to mark the World Youth Skills Day.
Swapping chairs
Mr. Kumar, who was seated next to Labour Resources Minister and RJD leader Vijay Prakash, subsequently swapped his chair with JD(U) Minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh, who was on his right. This was seen as an attempt by the Chief Minister to maintain a distance with the RJD Minister.
The episode, which was captured in still as well as video cameras of the electronic media, gave an indication of how the acrimony between the two grand alliance partners was growing with every passing day in the wake of the CBI registering an FIR against Tejaswi and others in connection with a land-for hotels scam case.
When presspersons asked the Chief Minister about Mr. Tejaswi skipping the function, he smiled and extended skill day greetings to them.