The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), which is in alliance with other parties in Bihar and part of chief minister Nitish Kumar-led grand alliance (GA), has hit out at Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state chief Samrat Choudhary who described Lalu Prasad Yadav as the director of GA and referred to other party leaders as “dummy actors”.
His remarks come ahead of Lalu’s Yadav’s return to Patna. The ailing RJD chief is expected to return to Patna on Friday afternoon after a long stay in New Delhi following his kidney transplant surgery in Singapore in December, party functionaries aware of the development said.
“The director was out, while the dummy actors were acting here. It is good that he is coming, but it will hardly make any difference to the superpower of Nitish Kumar,” Choudhary said speaking to media persons on Friday.
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RJD immediately hit back at Choudhary reminding him that he was once under the same director. “Today you are calling him director, but remember you were made a minister by the same director to earn fame. Now you have gone under a juggler like Amit Shah to dance to his tunes. Lalu Prasad is a great leader and his leadership is always valued,” said RJD spokesperson Ekta Yadav.
Even though Lalu Yadav has not been active in politics due to his illness and conviction in the fodder scam case, he remains the pivot for the RJD having played a key role in the installation of the GA government in Bihar.
Meanwhile, the GA is set to host an all-opposition meet after the Karnataka polls, for which chief minister Nitish Kumar has been on an outreach mission and the return of Lalu Yadav could be a key factor.
According to the people familiar with the development, top leaders from various regional parties, and also Congress, are likely to gather in Bihar on the invitation of CM Kumar to chalk out a plan for the opposition unity against the BJP ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Lalu came to Patna in mid-August last year and left after staying for less than a month in mid-September.
In his first speech after his kidney transplant in February last year, the RJD chief had virtually addressed GA’s Purnea rally from Delhi and made a frontal attack on the BJP, accusing it of being “anti-minorities”.
He gave a call for ousting the BJP from power in 2024 to protect the rights of religious minorities in India.
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It was the first show of strength by the seven-party coalition after coming to power in Bihar in August 2022. In his speech, Lalu Yadav also reminded the people how he had stopped BJP leader LK Advani’s rath Yatra in 1990 and cautioned them against attempts to flirt with reservation.
Congress leader Kuntal Krishn said it was an irrefutable fact that Lalu Prasad was the biggest leader of GA. “GA does politics of the people and so it has leaders. For those who treat politics as a film or a play, only they can talk about director and actor,” he added.
Meanwhile, BJP legislator Nitin Navin alleged that Lalu Prasad’s sole focus was on protecting his son & deputy chief minister Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, who was facing serious corruption charges.
“He is banking on the Congress for this. Unfortunately, the Congress is not in a position to even protect itself. Lalu Prasad is playing from behind the scene just to secure the future of his son and for this, he will do the hard bargains,” Navin said.
Slamming Choudhary, Janata Dal (United) [JD-U] spokesperson and MLC Neeraj Kumar said that the language of BJP’s state president reflected the kind of training given to new students of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
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“It is unfortunate that the BJP has given a huge responsibility to a person who does not have language command. I don’t know what kind of education is imparted in the Saraswati Shoshu Mandir,” he added.
Social activist DM Diwakar said that Lalu Prasad’s presence in Patna would certainly heighten the political temperature in the state. “Lalu Prasad is a grassroots politician and his presence in the state, even if he does not meet many people, could bring buoyancy in the RJD and confidence in the GA,” he added.
