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‘We will stay united’: Lalu amid rumblings in RJD
“We are not going to be cowed down by all this. We will stay united to uproot the BJP government, which has communalised everything, even as the people are looking for answers to key issues like corruption, rising prices and unemployment,” Lalu Prasad said
The two-day national executive and council meeting of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) in New Delhi concluded on Monday, with party president Lalu Prasad asking party workers to stay united for a larger battle to uproot the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the 2024 general elections.
During the party’s convention in the packed Talkatora Stadium, Prasad was formally announced as RJD national president for the 12th time. The party also passed a resolution effecting a change in the RJD constitution to vest final decision-making authority on its “name, poll symbol or any other issue” in Prasad as well as his younger son and Bihar’s deputy chief minister Tejashwi Prasad.
The two-day meet, however, had its own share of drama with RJD’s Bihar chief Jagdanand Singh, a prominent upper caste face of the party, staying away from the event. Singh has been sulking over the ouster of his son Sudhakar Singh from the Bihar cabinet earlier this month. Prasad’s elder son and state minister Tej Pratap Yadav on Sunday walked out of the meet accusing party leader Shyam Rajak of abusing him and his family members.
In his brief speech, Prasad attacked the BJP-led Union government, alleging it of unleashing central agencies like the Enforcement Directorate and Central Bureau of Investigation against him because of his efforts to unite opposition parties.
“We are not going to be cowed down by all this. We will stay united to uproot the BJP government, which has communalised everything, even as the people are looking for answers to key issues like corruption, rising prices and unemployment,” Prasad said. “The people have understood the BJP game plan and therefore, all the parties, including the Congress, need to come under one umbrella.”
Prasad said he would work for the larger opposition unity.
“The need of the hour is for all the parties to come together under one umbrella. The country will not forgive those who stay away from the united front,” he said. “Every time we try to rise, they start using CBI, ED and income tax to disturb us, but it will not have any impact anymore.”
On Monday, Tejashwi Prasad Yadav also asked party members to keep the larger goal in mind and not fall prey to any confusion or conspiracy.
Yadav said it was not possible to keep everyone happy, adding that he himself was also not happy with everyone. “But the moot point is to focus on the larger issue and stay united at this crucial hour,” he added.
The comments come amid uncertainty over the future of party’s senior leader Jagdanand Singh. Some party leaders requesting anonymity said Singh has offered to resign due to a sequence of events, including the way the RJD formed an alliance with chief minister Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) recently without taking him into confidence and the way his son Sudhakar Singh had to resign.
Singh has, however, refrained from making any comment on his absence from the crucial party meet. Though his son attended the meet, he left it for the party spokesperson to comment on his father’s absence. The party top brass also refrained from making any comment on Singh’s absence.
Both Prasad and Yadav also met Shyam Rajak, who had turned emotional on Sunday and later fell ill after being accused by Tej Pratap Yadav of abusing him.
Senior BJP leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sushil Kumar Modi, however, attacked the RJD, saying Prime Minister Narendra Modi was “no carrot to be uprooted” by the opposition comprising “tainted” leaders. “He is the mythological Angad, who the Ravan-like Opposition, which is eager to form an unprincipled alliance for selfish gains, will not be able to even budge,” he said.
