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Lalu attacks Cong, returns to Bihar ahead of bypolls
Prasad, who returned to Patna after three-and-a-half years, asserted that he will campaign for the upcoming bypolls to Tarapur and Kusheshwar Asthan assembly seats
Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) president Lalu Prasad attacked the Congress on Sunday, saying if the RJD had left an assembly bypoll seat in the state for the Congress, the latter could lose even its deposit.
Prasad, who returned to Patna after three-and-a-half years, asserted that he will campaign for the upcoming bypolls to Tarapur and Kusheshwar Asthan assembly seats.
Earlier in April, the Jharkhand high court granted him bail in one of the fodder scam cases.
Asked about a virtual breakup of the Congress-RJD alliance in the bypolls, Prasad said: “Kya hota hai Congress ka gathbandhan? (What is this thing about an alliance with the Congress).” “Should we have given one seat (to Congress) for it to lose? So that it could lose even its deposit?” he told the media ahead of his departure, in New Delhi.
The RJD chief also mocked Congress leader Bhakta Charan Das, the Congress’s in-charge for Bihar, who recently accused the RJD of having a secret understanding with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
“Does he (Das) know anything,” Prasad asked.
He also played down the reported rift between his two sons -- Tej Pratap and Tejashwi -- asserting that “there is no difference between the duo. Both are my sons”.
Responding to the comment, Das said: “Lalu Prasad is a big leader and I have always had great respect for him. But I am not capable of responding to his remarks on me the way he has made it.”
Talking over the phone in the midst of campaigning for the Tarapur assembly constituency, Das said Prasad had been the voice of Dalits and deprived sections for decades. “And the culture of Congress and sanskar of the Gandhi family prohibits me to reply to the comments of Prasad,” he added.
Prasad has been receiving treatment in the national capital after he was relieved from the AIIMS.
Late on Friday, Prasad returned to a rousing welcome by his family and party workers at the Patna airport.
Posters and banners were put up across the city to welcome the RJD chief, who drove straight from the airport to his 10 Circular residence.
Meanwhile, the Congress senior leaders including MLC Premchand Mishra have strongly objected to Prasad’s bid to mock the party’s state in-charge saying it does not behove of a veteran and tall leader like the RJD chief to use such derogatory words against a Congress senior leader.
