Patna, Oct 23 (UNI) Former union Minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Ravi Shankar Prasad today lashed out at the Grand Alliance (GA) for announcing Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejaswi Yadav as its chief ministerial candidate for the Bihar Assembly elections and termed the decision as “pure political theatrics.”
Addressing a press conference in Patna, Prasad said the GA had no real prospect of winning power in Bihar, and hence was resorting to symbolic announcements. He said that the GA itself knows that it has no future as its comeback to the power is impossible and added that this is why they are making hollow declarations. “Everyone in Bihar understands this drama,” he remarked.
Calling the GA a “fragile and confused alliance,” Prasad said Tejaswi Yadav’s background was deeply tainted by corruption. He is himself an accused under IPC Section 420, and yet he talks about zero tolerance for corruption, Prasad said, adding that Tejaswi’s model is clear “take land in exchange for jobs and hotels”, which is the legacy of his politics.
In a scathing attack on the RJD leader, the former minister questioned, “Does Tejashwi believe in the story of his own integrity, or in the tales written by his father, mother, and associates, who are all mired in corruption?” Prasad recalled that former Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had separated from the RJD due to widespread corruption during the earlier Grand Alliance government. Tejaswi today boasts of the work done under Nitish Kumar’s leadership, but he forgets that Nitish left him because of corruption, he quipped.
Highlighting the RJD’s history of scams, Prasad reminded the public that RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav had already been convicted in four fodder scam cases, receiving a total sentence of 32 years and five months. His officers were also punished in the bitumen (Alkatra) scam. The former union minister said that the Delhi High Court has even ordered trial proceedings from October 27 in another corruption case dating back to Lalu’s tenure as Railway Minister, involving the illegal allotment of two hotels in exchange for 3.5 acres of land in Patna, he said.
Prasad alleged that Tejaswi himself was an accused in that case under IPC Section 420, and several other corruption related trials were still pending against him. His entire record is riddled with corruption, he alleged saying that no work happens under RJD without graft. Taking aim at the Congress, Prasad said the party had compromised its integrity by aligning with “a corrupt family-driven party.” He further mocked the Grand Alliance’s promises as “falsehood and deception.” “Tejashwi’s pledges to provide government jobs to every household and regularise contractual workers are pure bluffs. The INDIA bloc has failed to fulfill its own promises in states where it governs,” he said.
The BJP leader asserted that while the NDA delivers on its commitments, the opposition only makes hollow claims. Calling the GA’s announcement as a desperate attempt to regain relevance, Prasad alleged, saying that even the RJD knows it won’t come to power, which is why it is indulging in mere publicity. The people of Bihar remember the jungle raj corruption, crime, fear, and loot and they will never allow it to return.
