Arrest order issued against Lalu for Varun remarks

An arrest order was issued today against Railways Minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad for his disparaging remarks against Bharatiya Janata Party's Pilibhit candidate Varun Gandhi at an election rally in Bihar. See Elections Special

An arrest order was issued on Tuesday for Railways Minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad for his disparaging remarks against Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Pilibhit candidate Varun Gandhi at an election rally in Bihar.

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The Kishanganj district Superintendent of Police Ram Narayan Singh ordered the arrest of Lalu Prasad on the basis of a complaint filed against him at the police station in the morning, police said.

A First Information Report was filed against the RJD chief on the directive of the district administration.

The RJD chief, while addressing an election rally in Kishanganj, 350 km from here, said Monday that had he been the home minister he would have run a "roller" over Varun Gandhi for his hate speeches against Muslims and bothered about the consequences later.

"If I were the country's home minister, and if Varun had said this (inflammatory speeches), then I would have run a roller over his chest and thought about the consequences later."

He also said that the move to jail Varun Gandhi was right.

The ruling Janata Dal-United (JD-U) criticised the comments and described it as irresponsible from a central minister.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said that Lalu Prasad's remarks were nothing but a move to create trouble in a peaceful state like Bihar.

Varun Gandhi is in Uttar Pradesh's Etah jail for his reported inflammatory speeches targeting Muslims.