Tejashwi Yadav, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader, launched a scathing attack on Bihar’s Nitish Kumar government as he accused the state government of hatching a “serious conspiracy” to derail his statewide ‘Samvidhan Bachao Nyay Yatra’, claiming that attempts were made to lace his food with “poisonous” substances.

“Nitish Kumar is in a tizzy over the massive public support to Samvidhan Bachao Nyay Yatra. It has been learnt through reliable sources that the Nitish government is involved in a serious conspiracy against me,” the leader of the state assembly said in a tweet in Hindi.

“My phone is being tapped and attempts are being made to lace my food with poisonous and narcotic substances. Spies have been deployed to keep a watch on my movements. A vicious campaign is on to sully my reputation and endanger my life”, the former Bihar deputy chief minister added in another tweet.

The younger son of RJD supremo Lalu Prasad continued his attack and added, “The entire country knows that Nitish Kumar is an undemocratic opportunist who can go to any extent to settle scores with his opponents. I am unable to understand what harm has been caused to him by a barely 28-year-old man. As a matter of fact, he won an election with our help and later betrayed the mandate.”

Yadav had become the deputy chief minister in 2015 after the grand alliance comprising RJD, Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) and Congress won a comprehensive victory in the assembly polls. Last year, Kumar walked out of the alliance following corruption cases against Yadav. After resigning from his post, he formed a new government with the BJP.

Last week, RJD and its ally Congress had announced that they have reached a seat-sharing arrangement for next month’s bypolls to one Lok Sabha and two assembly constituencies.

Tejashwi, Leader of Opposition, flanked by state Congress President Kaukab Quadri, said that it had been agreed that the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) would contest the Araria Lok Sabha and Jehanabad assembly seats and the Congress will contest by-elections on the Bhabua Assembly.

The RJD has also announced its candidates for Araria and Jehanabad bypolls – Sarfaraz Alam and Suday Yadav respectively, although the Congress has not yet finalised its nominee for the Bhabua assembly seat.

(With inputs from agencies)