Patna, Feb 13: RJD president Lalu Prasad on Thursday claimed that the BJP-led NDA will be defeated in the Bihar assembly polls, due later this year, notwithstanding the momentum gained by the saffron party after its victory in Delhi.
The former Bihar chief minister, whose party has the highest number of seats in the 243-strong assembly, was replying to journalists’ queries about the impact of INDIA bloc partner Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) getting ousted from power in Delhi.
“There will be no impact here. The BJP will go”, replied the septuagenarian who prides himself on being a staunch “secularist” who has never had a truck with the saffron party.
When it was pointed out to the RJD supremo that leaders of the NDA in Bihar, where his arch-rival Nitish Kumar, the JD(U) president, has been chief minister since 2005, were confident of return to power, Prasad dismissed such a possibility.
“As long as we are around in Bihar, they cannot form a government here. The people have sized up the BJP. They will size up the NDA here as well,” Prasad said.
The averment drew a sharp response from senior BJP leader and Deputy CM Vijay Kumar Sinha, who said “Lalu ji may or may not be around, but the NDA’s return to power is certain”.
He also said, “The people do not need Lalu ji to be around. His reign was marked by rampant casteism and misrule, which had brought a bad name to the state and the word Bihari had become a sort of slur”.
JD(U) spokesman and MLC Neeraj Kumar also reacted to Prasad’s statement, saying “Lalu ji should remember that the NDA achieved power in Bihar with him around and it will continue to do so again with him around”.
“The NDA has set a target of 225 seats, more than its tally in 2010, when the RJD had got decimated. Lalu ji should worry for himself. He is old enough to retire from public life. His son and heir apparent Tejashwi Yadav does not listen to him,” alleged the JD(U) leader.
Incidentally, the JD(U) has also had two short-lived alliances with the RJD in the past one decade, which allowed Yadav, now leader of the opposition, to enjoy tenures as the deputy CM. (PTI)
