I am very much here, recuperating after surgery: Tejashwi on his absence

Patna: RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav on Saturday accused the opposition and a section of media of “cooking up spicy stories” about his prolonged absence, claiming that he was convalescing after undergoing a “long delayed surgery” for a ligament injury.

In a statement, the RJD heir apparent expressed his “wish to assure the people of Bihar as well as our spirited cadre, we are going to fight with renewed commitment on everyday life issues of poor”.

The statement was shared by his party here and also on his Facebook and Twitter accounts. It, however, did not reveal his current location.

Yadav is the leader of the opposition in the Bihar Assembly and his absence on the inaugural day of the Monsoon Session on Friday had also raised eyebrows.

He said that since its birth, the RJD had been at the centre of poor people’s struggle and the position was not lost “only because of an electoral defeat”, referring to the recent Lok Sabha elections in which the party failed to win a single seat, its worst-ever performance since its formation in 1997.

He also claimed that despite not being in action, he had been constantly following up on the “untimely loss” of lives of children due to Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES).

“In this tragic moment, (I) asked party workers and leaders to visit affected families without getting into photo-ops and MPs to raise it in Parliament,” the 30-year-old said.

Striking a philosophical note, Yadav, who is often accused of lacking in maturity by opponents and dissidents in his own party, said, “We are accountable to people who (want) socialist-secular… alternative… and wish to assure that we are very much here and the fight is on.”

“Recent developments helped me study, scrutinise, analyse and study the things in a different way,” he said.

Yadav did not give any indication about how much time he was likely to spend in hibernation, but said, “My dear Bihar! I am very much here”.

The former deputy chief minister had reportedly left for Delhi immediately after the campaign for the last phase of general elections was over, and did not even return on the date of counting.

He came back later to take part in meetings held to review the party’s debacle, but left for an undisclosed destination a couple of days later.

Media reports speculated that he was visiting Singapore, where one of his elder sisters had settled after marriage, to the cricket enthusiast being away in England to watch the world cup tournament.

Posters had been put up in a number of Bihar towns proclaiming that the RJD leader went “missing”, while party leaders including his mother Rabri Devi remained tight-lipped about his absence.