PATNA: Keen to keep his unstable flock together in Bihar just before the Lok Sabha polls, RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav on Tuesday paraded in the Assembly and before Governor D.Y. Patil nine of the 13 MLAs who had allegedly rebelled and quit the party on Monday.
An unusually animated Mr Yadav squarely blamed both CM Nitish Kumar of the JD(U) and Assembly Speaker Uday Narayan Chaudhary for the split bid in the RJD. The former Bihar strongman, who insisted that “all is well” in the RJD, grabbed the situation to renew his party’s “Oust Nitish, Save Bihar” campaign after his deft damage control exercise turned largely successful. “The Nitish government, which has been stifling democracy in Bihar, has now used the Assembly Speaker as a plaything and tried to break the RJD. This has made a mockery of Bihar. Nine of the 13 RJD MLAs named as those quitting the party are here with us in person,” said Yadav after he submitted to the Assembly secretary the letters of support written by the nine MLAs.
High drama prevailed on Patna streets as Mr Yadav first walked to the Assembly and then travelled to the Raj Bhawan in a cyclerickshaw with RJD leaders and hundreds of supporters following him. Some RJD workers were seen pelting stones at the Speaker’s residence.
