Amid the continuing drama in Maharashtra over government formation, former Bihar deputy chief minister and RJD leader Tejahwi Yadav on Monday dropped a bombshell by stating that the RJD too had got an offer from the BJP to form the government in Bihar but it politely rejected for the sake of party’s ideology. Tejashwi, who is the younger son of jailed RJD chief Lalu Prasad, made this revelation when asked to comment on the present political drama being played out in Maharashtra.

“We too had got the BJP offer for government formation in Bihar but we rejected. Had we compromised with our party ideology, (Sushil) Modi would still have been the Deputy but serving under the RJD CM,” Tejashwi told newsmen in the Bihar assembly premises on Saturday adding that the party had got the offer in 2016.

However, the “greedy people” threw their principles to the winds to form the government with BJP support after breaking alliance with the RJD with whose support they had come to power, he said. Apparently, he was referring to chief minister Nitish Kumar. He said the RJD had never compromised with its ideology and hence it is in the opposition.

It was in 2016 that the RJD was on cloud nine with both sons of RJD president, Tejashwi Yadav and Tej Pratap Yadav, being sworn in as ministers in the Nitish Kumar government and RJD scripting a new saga of turnaround by bouncing back to power after staying away from it for 15 years. It was also at this time that both Prasad and his deputy chief minister son Tejashwi Yadav were caught on camera frequently meeting the then union finance minister Arun Jaitely and Union surface transport minister Nitin Gadkari triggering speculations that something was cooking between the BJP and the RJD.

Tejashwi also said that there was no question of allying with chief minister Kumar in future as he had betrayed the people’s mandate. Kumar, who had won the last 2015 Bihar assembly elections with the support of the RJD, had broken the alliance with the party just two years later to form his new government with the BJP against which he had won the elections. The BJP-led NDA had won only 58 seats in the 243-member Bihar assembly against 178 seats bagged by the three-party Grand Alliance comprising the JD-U of Kumar, the RJD, and Congress.

The RJD had emerged as the single largest party in the Bihar assembly bagging a total of 80 seats followed by 71 seats won by the JD-U, and 27 by the Congress. However, respecting the pre-poll commitment, the RJD gifted the CM post to Nitish Kumar.