In a precursor to what was in the store for the Nitish government in terms of the Lok Janshakti Party's upcoming anti-NDA rally on November 28, LJP president and Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan ripped into the Bihar government calling it corrupt and inept while describing Bihar as a place where no one was safe anymore.
At the Sunday meeting of the party's Yadav Jagaran Manch designed with the sole purpose of making a dent in the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) president and Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav's caste vote bank, Paswan said November 28 would be the beginning of the end of the Nitish-led NDA government.
Promising to fill the half of the Gandhi Maidan with Yadavs during his upcoming 'Sankalp Rally', Paswan, with the help of Ranjan Yadav, the former Lalu friend and advisor, appealed to all Yadavs to rethink their allegiance to their erstwhile de facto leader Lalu Prasad Yadav who, he said, gave a bad name to the entire Yadav community.
Yadav Jagaran Manch by LJP
Photo by Shashi Uttam
"Lalu and Nitish are engaged in a war of words while the entire population of Bihar is struggling to survive. Bihar has seen the RJD and the NDA rules and both regimes have been complete failure on all fronts. Now it is up to the LJP to come to the rescue of the state that has suffered a lot under Lalu and Nitish rules," Paswan said.
LJP national vice president Ranjan Yadav, in his fiery speech reminded people that the RJD chief's political existence was due to a strong Yadav force and not the other way round as the Railway Minister has come to believe about himself.
"By coining slogans like 'Bhura Baal' and 'Tel Pilawan Lathi Ghumawan', Lalu Prasad has done nothing but malign the image of the entire Yadav community that entrusted him for long 15 years but all they got in return from his was betrayal and back-stabbing," Ranjan Yadav said.
Paswan also accused Lalu Prasad Yadav of going behind his back and 'snatching' the Railway Ministry from him.
"Despite strong public opinion, I went ahead and joined hands with Lalu Prasad in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections. Only later I came to find out that while I was busy drumming up support for him in Madhepura, he was conspiring to ensure my and my brother Ramchandra Paswan's defeat in the elections," Paswan said.
Diverting his attention from Lalu Prasad Yadav to the Janata Dal (U) leader and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Paswan said that the JD-U paid off Rs. 2 crore to 'buy off' his legislators.
"Yet, if I was guided by the politics of vengeance, I could have shook hands with Lalu Prasad in the last state Assembly elections that could have easily cost power from the hands of the NDA but I did not do so," Paswan said adding while he would not guess as to how many people would show up for his 'Sankalp Rally', the number would be substantial enough to pose a challenge to both Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad Yadav.
LJP's Yadav Rally
Manch
