Screengrab of video showing policemen carrying umbrellas for Lalu.
Credit: X/@SushilModi
The opposition BJP in Bihar on Tuesday lashed out at the Nitish Kumar government over police personnel providing escort to RJD President Lalu Prasad and his wife Rabri Devi, who are on a visit to his native district of Gopalganj, and holding umbrellas over their heads.
Prasad, a former chief minister and father of Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav, is in Gopalganj along with his wife Rabri Devi, herself an ex-CM, and video footage show the elderly couple being escorted by police officials, carrying umbrellas over their heads to protect them from rain.
State BJP president Samrat Choudhary said, “Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) used to call Lalu Prasad a registered criminal. But now the RJD supremo is a man of honour for him. I have learnt Deputy SPs were carrying umbrellas over his head. It may be the turn of the District Magistrate and the Superintendent of Police now to serve him”.
Choudhary, who began his political career two decades ago as a minister in the Rabri Devi cabinet, was referring to Prasad’s conviction in a number of fodder scam cases.
The state BJP president was also asked about Prasad’s averment that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be defeated by the Opposition coalition I.N.D.I.A in the next Lok Sabha polls.
“He (Prasad) should look at himself. He has been disqualified and cannot contest elections for a village panchayat," replied Choudhary.
“At least Lalu Prasad has a vote base. Nitish Kumar does not even have that. He is surviving in power on the RJD’s crutches. A reason why he is brazenly compromising with crime, corruption and communalism,” Choudhary claimed.
Nitish Kumar had last year snapped ties with the BJP which he accused of trying to break his party in a bit to weaken him politically.
Former Deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi, one of the most strident critics of Lalu Prasad, also came out with a post on X, formerly Twitter, demanding action against the police officials who carried an umbrella over the RJD supremo’s head.
He also reminded Kumar, his former boss, that while in power Prasad had been accused of “making IAS officers carry his spittoon”.
Prasad and Rabri Devi have met old friends and family members in their native place which they are visiting after many years. The elderly couple also offered prayers at a famous temple in Thawe locality besides garlanding a statue of the RJD supremo’s mother.