Patna, February 17 RJD working president Tejashwi Yadav announced on Monday that his party would "expand its base" beyond Bihar, moving away from its earlier policy of refraining from contesting elections in other states to avoid division of "secular votes".
The former Bihar deputy chief minister was addressing a function here to mark the 38th death anniversary of Bharat Ratna Karpoori Thakur, the political mentor of his father and RJD founding president Lalu Prasad.
"From March, we will embark on a drive to strengthen the party. Lalu ji had made the RJD a major force in the state. We must take his work forward and aspire to achieving the status of a national party," said Yadav.
"In the days to come, we will try to expand our base not just in Bihar but also in other states, where we had so far not been entering the fray to help our allies so that there is no division in secular votes,” he added.
The RJD is a key constituent of the opposition INDIA bloc.
Yadav also urged party workers to remember "we lost the Assembly polls in Bihar not because we were weak, but because we had fallen on hard times. Our time is bound to come".
"Lalu ji gave me a big responsibility last month when I was made the national working president of the RJD. With the support of you all, I see no reason why we shall not become a force to reckon with," he added.
Yadav, who is currently the leader of the opposition in Bihar Assembly, also alleged that Chief Minister Nitish Kumar was "out of his senses" and was running his government as a "puppet" of influential bureaucrats and his domineering ally, the BJP.
"I had said that I will keep quiet till this government completes 100 days. The deadline will be over in four days. We will take the ruling dispensation to task for its failure to fulfil promises made during elections, many of which were ideas borrowed from us," said Yadav.
