Patna, Mar 24 (PTI) The RJD's working president Tejashwi Yadav on Tuesday claimed that Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had "no wish" to get elected to the Rajya Sabha but was "forced" to do so at the instance of ally BJP, which was out to "finish off" the JD(U).

Kumar, the longest-serving chief minister of Bihar, was elected to the Rajya Sabha on March 9. Asked for his comments on the development, Yadav said, "Nitish Kumar may be the national president of the JD(U), but the party is now not run by him but a cabal that is hand in glove with the BJP.

"We have always been saying that the BJP wants to finish off the JD(U). Nitish Kumar has been forced to enter the Rajya Sabha as part of this design. He had no wish to relinquish the chief minister's post," said the leader of the opposition in the state assembly.

Yadav was also asked about former RJD MLA Mukesh Raushan's allegation that Bihar minister Sanjay Kumar Singh had an arrest warrant against him issued by a Chhattisgarh court.

The RJD working president said, "The allegation must be seriously looked into by the government. The minister also owes an explanation to the people of the state.

Notably, Singh had wrested the Mahua seat in the assembly polls held in November last year from Raushan.

Yadav also scoffed at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's appeal to the nation to stay "alert and prepared", like in the COVID-19 pandemic, in the face of the ongoing West Asia crisis.

"It is his own government that needs to be alert, given its proclivity for mismanaging every crisis, be it demonetisation or the pandemic," the RJD leader quipped. 

(Disclaimer: This report has been published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. Apart from the headline, no editing has been done in the copy by ABP Live.)