Lalu to campaign for daughter Rohini Acharya in Saran
Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav has so far stayed away from Lok Sabha election campaign due to health reasons
Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav was on Wednesday due to arrive in Bihar’s Saran, where his daughter Rohini Acharya is contesting Lok Sabha polls against four-time Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) parliamentarian Rajiv Pratap Rudy.
RJD lawmaker Sunil Kumar Singh said Yadav’s presence in Saran, where he was expected to interact with RJD party workers, is enough to unnerve the opponents. “He draws crowds and the people see in him one of their own, who gave them voice and respect. He will interact with the party workers up to the booth level,” said Singh.
Singh said Acharya would script history. He added she has shown political maturity even as she is contesting her first election. “The mood in Saran is different this time. Rohini seems set to avenge the defeat of her mother [former chief minister Rabri Devi] to Rudy in 2014.” He added Yadav’s visit to Saran could make it one-sided contest in Acharya’s favour.
Yadav, who left for Saran with his wife Rabri Devi and Acharya, was scheduled to inaugurate an RJD office on Wednesday evening. The office has a guest house, where he will stay.
Yadav has so far stayed away from electioneering due to health reasons. He won the Saran seat in 2009, defeating Rudy. In 2014, Rudy defeated Rabri Devi after Yadav could not fight due to his conviction. Rudy retained the seat in 2019.
Rudy has said his contest was against Yadav and Rabri Devi and not Acharya. “Saran has come a long way and people would never like to get back to the dark days that the Lalu era symbolised,” he said. Rudy has maintained his fight in Saran is against Yadav’s ideology. “I did not leave the seat even when I lost. I am a local and I stay here. Even Lalu Prasad is not a local and Saran is not his stronghold,” he said. Rudy has been dismissive of Acharya, a doctor who donated a kidney to her father, terming her an outsider.
RJD is hoping to win Saran, which was earlier part of the Chapra Lok Sabha seat, which Yadav represented in 1977, 1989, and 2004. Misa Bharati, Yadav’s elder daughter who lost twice from Pataliputra, is contesting from there for the third time.
