Lalu set to return to Patna on Aug 17, Tejashwi recalls father’s ‘brotherhood’ with Nitish

RJD’s state unit president Jagdanand Singh said Prasad has a scheduled programme of meeting party MLAs and functionaries on August 17 at 10, Circular Road.

Ailing Rashtriya Janata Dal ( RJD) chief Lalu Prasad is set to return to Patna from New Delhi on August 17, for the first time since Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) quit the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and formed the government in alliance with RJD and other parties.

Lalu Prasad. (Archive)

RJD functionaries said the former chief minister will reach Patna from New Delhi by an evening flight on August 17 and meet party workers and leaders at his 10 Circular road residence.

“The RJD chief is likely to visit Hajipur on August 19 in connection with a court case related to violation of code of conduct,” said Sanjay Yadav, a close aide of deputy chief minister Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, Prasad’s younger son and his heir apparent.

RJD’s state unit president Jagdanand Singh said Prasad has a scheduled programme of meeting party MLAs and functionaries on August 17 at 10, Circular Road. “We have drafted his programme on behalf of the party. The RJD chief will give blessings to the party MLAs and other functionaries in view of the formation of GA government,” he said.

Speculation is rife in political circles that Prasad may also meet Kumar.

CM Kumar and his deputy Tejashwi Yadav had taken oath of office on August 10.

Since his release on bail from jail in April last year in the fodder scam cases in which he had been convicted, an ailing Lalu Prasad has been mostly staying at the residence of his daughter and Rajya Sabha member Misa Bharti, only occasionally visiting Patna for brief spells.

Currently, he is recovering from a shoulder fracture following a fall at his residence in Patna on July 3, after which he was airlifted to AIIMS, New Delhi, for treatment. Prasad was discharged from AIIMS on July 22.