Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad hit back at Union Home Minister Amit Shah on March 11 over his remark on “hanging the land mafia upside down” in the State.
The former Chief Minister recalled the incident in which Mr. Shah had got stuck in an elevator at the State guest house in Patna back in 2015. The RJD president quipped that “we will get him stuck once again”. Mr. Prasad, however, did not clarify where and how Mr. Shah would get stuck.
He issued the statement after all five candidates of the Mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) filed the nomination on the last day for the State Legislative Council polls.
On March 9, Mr. Shah addressed the ‘Pichda-Atipichda Sammelan’ (Backward-Most Backward Public Conference) in Patna where he had said in reference to the land-for-jobs scam case that the NDA government would “hang the land mafia upside down”.
Reacting to the BJP leader’s remarks, Mr. Prasad said: “Who is Amit Shah? Remember, he had got stuck in an elevator in Bihar. Once again, we will get him stuck.”
On August 20, 2015, Mr. Shah along with fellow BJP leaders Bhupender Yadav and Saudan Singh got stuck in an elevator for around half-an-hour past 11 p.m. Amid the suffocation inside the enclosed space, they were rescued by Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel who had to break the steel door of the elevator to bring them out.
Party sources said that Mr. Prasad’s statement should be seen as an indication of the Indian National Development Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) defeating the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
Mr. Prasad was accompanied by his sons — Tej Pratap Yadav and Leader of Opposition in Assembly Tejashwi Yadav — apart from Bihar Congress chief Akhilesh Prasad Singh.
Filed nominations
Former Chief Minister Rabri Devi, former MLA Abdul Bari Siddiqui, ex-state RJD women’s wing president Urmila Thakur and Syed Faisal Ali filed their papers as RJD candidates while Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) and party women’s wing leader Shashi Yadav also filed the nomination for the Legislative Council polls slated to be held on March 21.
Party leaders Tejashwi Yadav, Rabri Devi and Misa Bharti also slammed the BJP accusing the party of hijacking the constitutional bodies in the country.
“We all know how the BJP is running the government. They are playing with the Constitution and democracy. The BJP is continuously trying to hijack all the constitutional institutions of India,” Mr. Yadav alleged.
Ms. Bharti and Ms. Devi took a dig at Mr. Shah and the Union government. “Amit Shah has not said anything new. Why is he not speaking about employment?” Ms. Bharti asked.
Ms. Devi claimed that the BJP has looted public money on the pretext of demonetisation, which was implemented in 2016.
Deputy Chief Minister and BJP leader Samrat Choudhary ignored Mr. Prasad’s remark and said: “After running the government for 15 years, Lalu ji never speaks seriously. Nobody takes him seriously. Our leader Amit Shah has given a message to the criminals and land mafia that they would be hung upside down.”
On the other hand, Mangal Pandey, Lal Mohan Gupta and Anamika Singh of the BJP also filed the nomination for the council polls as the NDA nominees.
Meanwhile, Pradeep Verma of BJP and former Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) MLA Sarfaraz Ahmad filed their nomination for the Rajya Sabha election in Jharkhand.
