New Delhi:
Tejashwi Yadav, who took oath along with Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today, had a bunch of messages to reply to friends and well-wishers. These included Telangana minister and Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s son KT Rama Rao.
The 46-year-old’s message read, “Many congratulations to Shri @yadavtejashwi ji on being sworn in as the Deputy CM of Bihar. Hearty congratulations to you in your new role and best wishes for serving the people.”
“Thank you brother,” read the response of Mr. Yadav, who at the age of 32 is one of the youngest political leaders in the country.
thank you brother. https://t.co/rzol7lG0L4
— Tejashwi Yadav (@yadavtejashwi) 10 August 2022
Cricketer-turned-politician Tejashwi Yadav is the political heir of Bihar’s veteran leader Lalu Yadav and has been managing the party affairs for years.
A former deputy of his father’s enemy Nitish Kumar, he had spent more than two years as the leader of the opposition in Bihar, with Mr. Kumar citing corruption cases against him, along with the Congress and Mr. Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal. The Grand Alliance was abolished.
But in the past months, the two sides reached an agreement and today, he took oath, is set to return to Bihar again as Mr. Kumar’s deputy.
However, such ups and downs did not come in the way of Sri Rama Rao or KTR as his supporters call him.
The son of the first Chief Minister of Telangana, Sri Rama Rao has been looking after the affairs of the party as the Working President of Telangana Rashtra Samithi since December 2018.
He is also in charge of the IT, Industry and Commerce departments in his father’s government, of which he has been a part since Telangana got statehood.
The camaraderie between the heirs of the country’s two eminent political families reflects the slow pace of opposition parties coming together ahead of the 2024 general elections.
The senior Mr. Rao has been working towards a non-Congress-non-BJP alliance ahead of the 2019 general elections, which has so far failed to materialise.
Mr Yadav’s boss, Nitish Kumar, is said to have an eye on leading the opposition in the 2024 general elections.
The BJP has claimed that it wants to become the Prime Minister and broke the alliance for the second time for its national ambitions.