Janata Dal (United) leader and political strategist Prashant Kishor on Friday rubbished Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav’s claim that Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar indicated through Kishor that he was willing to return to the grand alliance.
“Kishor seemed to indicate that if I were to assure in writing my party’s support to JD(U), the latter would pull out of the Bharatiya Janata Party alliance and rejoin the mahagathbandhan,” Yadav wrote in his soon-to-be-released book, Gopalganj to Raisina: My Political Journey, The Times of India reported on Thursday. “Though I was not bitter with Nitish, I had lost trust in him completely. Moreover, I was not sure how the people who had voted for the Grand Alliance in 2015 and the other parties that had united against the BJP all over the country, would react if I accepted Kishor’s offer.”
Yadav’s son Tejashwi Yadav, who was the deputy chief minister of Bihar during the coalition government in the state from 2015 to 2017, backed his father’s assertion on Friday. “I say this with full responsibility, Nitish Kumar made many attempts to get back and ally with us, he tried many different approaches, that also within 6 months of returning to the National Democratic Alliance,” he said, according to ANI.
However, Kishor, who had worked as a political strategist for Kumar and Lalu Yadav during the 2015 Assembly elections, rejected the Rashtriya Janata Dal chief’s claim. “The claims made by Laluji as reported are BOGUS,” Kishore tweeted. “This is nothing but a poor attempt seeking relevance by a leader whose best days are behind him. Yes, we did meet many times before I joined JD(U), but if I were to tell what all was discussed then he would be quite embarrassed.”
Kishor, Janata Dal (United) national vice president, also targeted Tejashwi Yadav. “Even today, your identity and accomplishment in the minds of the people is limited to you being Lalu Yadav’s son,” he said. “It is only due to this that you became an RJD leader and the deputy chief minister in Lalu Yadav’s absence. But you will cultivate your own identity only when you do some work, however small, on your own initiative.”
Lalu Yadav has been convicted in several fodder scam cases and is currently lodged in jail.
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