Says don’t judge a book by its cover and vows to increase value of ‘Brand Bihar’ .
Patna : With his appointment as Deputy Chief Minister in Bihar government drawing criticism, RJD chief Lalu Prasad’s son Tejaswi on Saturday took on his detractors, asking them “not to judge a book by its cover” and vowed to increase the value of ‘Brand Bihar’ so that Nitish Kumar “is proud” of him. The newly-appointed deputy CM of Bihar, Tejaswi Yadav had a smooth interaction with officials and his cabinet colleagues during his first day in office. Officials present in the first cabinet meeting of the newly formed cabinet that was chaired by CM Nitish Kumar in Patna on Saturday said that Tejaswi appeared receptive to suggestions and did not raise too many questions on his first day.
“His conduct was more of an eager learner who was trying to get a grasp of the things happening around him. He also appeared to be receptive and eager to listen to suggestions that were made by his cabinet colleagues and other officials present during the meeting”, an official present in the meeting said. CM Nitish Kumar, replying to queries by media persons said that Tejaswi was a new entrant to politics and will learn the required skills with time. Nitish Kumar who reviewed the law and order situation in the state with SPs and DMs before the cabinet meeting however did not invite his deputy in the review meeting. Lalu did not made any comment on the first day of his sons in the government and said that it was for the CM to comment on their performance of his ministers.
The opposition BJP which had launched a strong attack on RJD president and Tejaswi”s father, Lalu Prasad Yadav during the election campaign and suffered electorally because of it, also stayed away from attacking Tejaswi. Leader of opposition in the now dissolved assembly and senior BJP leader Nand Kishore Yadav said ”kisi ke parivar ke bache par kya bolna” (why should one pass comment on the children of someone. BJP party officials admitted that the party would desist from personally attacking the sons of Lalu for some time. However, second-tier BJP leaders attacked Tejaswi and his elder brother Tej Pratap, who also was included on the Nitish cabinet, and said that they were symbol of dynastic politics. “Lalu has always promoted his family. This is an example of extreme parivar vaad and if Lalu had two more sons, he would have made sure that they too would have become ministers”, said Suranjnandan Kushwaha, BJP state vice president.
