Patna (Bihar): RJD president Lalu Prasad Yadav on Saturday hit out at Home Minister Amit Shah over his attack on Bihar's ruling alliance and stressed the need for Opposition unity, a day before he meets Congress leader Sonia Gandhi along with Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in Delhi.
"Amit Shah has totally gone crazy. His government has been removed there (Bihar). It (BJP) will face a rout in 2024 as well. That is why he is going there running and speaking of jungle raj and all those things. What he did when he was in Gujarat," Yadav told reporters.
"Jungle raj was in Gujarat when he was there," the former Bihar chief minister alleged. "Amit Shah bilkul paglaye hue hain," he said, speaking in Hindi. Asked about the home minister's claim that the BJP will form the government at the Centre in 2024 again and then in Bihar the next year, he said, "We will see that."
With the BJP saying that Kumar will dump the RJD later in his pursuit of power, Yadav asserted that they are together now. Kumar and Yadav are likely to meet Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Sunday evening. "We are making every effort for Opposition unity," Yadav, who has been battling poor health, said, adding this will be the agenda of their meeting.
In an effort to unite the opposition, the RJD supremo and Bihar chief minister will meet Sonia Gandhi on Sunday. The meeting assumes significance as Nitish has pledged to unite the opposition ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha election to take on Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“Lalu ji and Nitish ji will meet Sonia Gandhi ji on Sunday at 6 PM at her residence in Delhi,” Tejashwi Yadav, Bihar deputy chief minister said in Gopalganj on Saturday. The last time when Nitish had gone to Delhi, he could not meet Sonia Gandhi as she was abroad, however the Bihar CM did meet Rahul Gandhi.
Shah on Friday flayed former ally Nitish, accusing the Bihar chief minister of backstabbing the BJP and trying to fulfill his prime ministerial ambitions while "sitting in the laps of Congress and RJD".
At a rally held in Purnea, Shah asserted the Jodi of Kumar and RJD president Lalu Prasad will be wiped out (Soopda Saaf') in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls and, a year later, the BJP will win a majority on its own in the state assembly elections. The BJP does not want the grand alliance's "jungle raj", he had said.
Also read: Nitish and I will meet Sonia Gandhi soon; will throw BJP out of power in 2024: Lalu Yadav
Lalu left for Delhi on Saturday even as he reiterated his stance while speaking to the reporters at the airport that "BJP would be wiped out in 2024”. In a bid to unite the opposition, a rally has also been planned on September 25 in Fatehabad of Haryana on the occasion of the birth anniversary of former deputy prime minister Chaudhary Devi Lal.
It would be the first show of strength attended by most of the opposition leaders. The invitation has been sent to Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee and TDP president Chandrababu Naidu and other leaders of the opposition. Nitish and Tejashwi, who will fly to Delhi on Sunday, will also attend the rally.
After snapping the ties with BJP in Bihar and forming the government with RJD, Nitish is continuously calling for the opposition's unity. BJP on other hand claims that the attempt of uniting the opposition "will not make any impact". The BJP also took a dig at Lalu and Nitish meeting Sonia .
“As the union home minister Amit Shah ji came to Bihar, the opposition parties are feeling restless and infuriated. The grand alliance people started propaganda one month before Amit Shah ji came. They are meeting each other to save their losing ground," BJP spokesperson Nikhil Anand told ETV Bharat.
"These fused bulbs are coming together. They will not be able to give enough light to match the magic of our Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji, who is working hard to realise the dream of every Indian citizen as well as strengthening India's position at the global level," he said.
Asked about how important Lalu and Nitisha and Sonia Gandhi's meeting would be, Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee member and spokesperson Kuntal Krishna: "In Bihar, a successful political alliance of non-BJP parties forced BJP on fences and BJP was out of power. Nitish ji and Lalu ji and Congress firmly believe that in the best interest of the nation, if this Mahagathbandhan can be formed at national level as well, BJP will be out of power. Nitish ji and Lalu ji meeting the interim Congress president is a big political message for all non-BJP parties in the country. With this Mahagathbandhan Bihar is for sure going to be a tough turf for BJP," he said.
