BJP wants to poison Lalu ji, alleges Rabri Devi

Prasad is serving jail term following his conviction in fodder scam and undergoing treatment for multiple ailments at Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences in Jharkhand capital.

A war of words has ensued between rival political groups in Bihar over former chief minister Rabri Devi’s apprehensions about the alleged life threat to incarcerated Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad in Ranchi.

Patna: RJD senior leader Rabri Devi leaves the Income Tax office after she was questioned, in Patna on Tuesday. PTI Photo (PTI8_29_2017_000186A)(PTI)

Rabri Devi’s outburst came after the imposition of a ban on the weekly public meeting by Prasad, currently lodged in Ranchi’s Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS), on Saturday.

In a tweet, she said that she feared anything untoward could happen to Lalu and alleged that those in the government might resort to conspiracy to annihilate him. “As per the rules, Prasad is entitled to meet people every Saturday. But the dictatorial BJP government in Jharkhand banned that rightful entitlement in the name of law and order,” she noted.

In an apparent dig over her allegations, chief minister Nitish Kumar, during campaigning for NDA candidates said it was ironical to see the persons having no elementary knowledge about the constitution were blaming the judiciary for the suffering of their party leader.

Taking a jibe at her allegations, union railway minister Piyush Goyal claimed that the centre has nothing to do with the RJD chief being jailed. “No GST is imposed on allegations,” Goyal told media persons in Ahmedabad over Rabri Devi’s comments.

“Lalu Prasad is in jail because of legal proceedings. He is an accused in the fodder scam and he must answer the people of the country. We have not kept him in jail,” Goyal added.

Congress leader Prem Chandra Mishra supported Rabri Devi’s stand, saying that the ruling party had stooped to such a low that it resorted to bending the jail manual to stop the RJD chief from meeting with his family members and party workers. “Why should a prisoner be not allowed to meet, when the jail manual has a clear stand on it? Why the meeting was discontinued from this week and in the midst of elections,” Mishra asked.

JD(U) spokesman Ajay Alok dismissed the allegations as a publicity stunt and said that the health condition of Lalu Prasad began to haunt her after realising that Grand Alliance was getting uprooted from Seemanchal in the second phase of polling.

RJD MLA Vijay Prakash said it was a demonstration of frustration of the BJP leaders in Jharkhand. “They (BJP leaders) are misused their authority to torture the RJD chief and prevent him to meeting the party workers after they got convinced that the NDA would not be able to open their account in Bihar,” said Prakash.

On April 7, RJD leader and Prasad’s son Tejashwi was not allowed to meet his father when he went to the RIMS.

“People of Bihar and Jharkhand will take to the roads if anything unfortunate happens to him. If state and central government want to kill him by poisoning, if they want to kill the entire Lalu family, they can do that, but this dictatorship won’t work,” Rabri had said.