Lalu’s son Tejashwi takes on Nitish and Modi, declares war for ‘fooling’ people

Tejashwi played the emotional card deftly, stressing on “attempts after attempts” to “frame me, my father and mother, brother and sisters in cases” even as he targeted the Rs 1,000-crore Srijan scam.

The son announced his arrival on national stage on Sunday.

RJD chief Lalu Prasad’s youngest son and Raghopur MLA, Tejashwi Prasad Yadav (PTI)

Amidst senior leaders of various parties, RJD chief Lalu Prasad’s youngest boy, Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, in his 25-minute speech at the Patna rally, took on Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, whom he addressed as ‘chacha (uncle)’, and punctured Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s poll slogan ‘Har Har Modi’ to ‘Gadbad Modi’, for not honouring his promises to Bihar.

Tejashwi played the emotional card deftly, stressing on “attempts after attempts” to “frame me, my father and mother, brother and sisters in cases” even as he targeted the Rs 1,000-crore Srijan scam and drew parallels with Madhya Pradesh’s Vyapam scam.

He played to the youth, who made up over three-fourths of the crowd at the ‘BJP bhagao, desh bachao’ rally, blended emotion, religious appeal, aggression, and also sought responses from the crowd to announce his readiness to take over the mantle from his father.

“We are not afraid,” he said, mentioning the I-T, ED and fodder scam cases, and added, “Our God Shri Krishna was born in jail and I have the blood of Lalu Prasad coursing through my veins.”

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who was stuck in a traffic jam because of the large crowd at the rally, arrived on stage as he was speaking. Tejashwi stopped and touched her feet to seek her blessings.

After initial ‘pranam (respects)’ to Nitish, the former deputy chief minister tore into his previous boss, saying he was so afraid that he opted for a Sangh Yukt (RSS) embrace against his own call for a Sangh Mukt India.

“He stabbed George Fernandes, Lalu Prasad and Sharad Yadav and Bihar in the back. He insulted the Bihar mandate and continues as CM with your votes. He has joined the BJP which promised Bihar much, but delivered nothing.

“The war against them starts now,” he declared and demanded the resignations of Nitish and his current deputy, Sushil Kumar Modi of BJP, over the Srijan scam.

Tejashwi also warned people against the divisive politics of BJP.

“Beware, they are adept at creating fissures in society for their advantage. They talk of India, we talk of Bharat. They talk of smart cities, we talk of villages. They waive off loans of corporates, we talk of justice for the poor,” he said.