Nitish ‘deceived' Lalu, caused SP’s exit from Grand Alliance: SP Chief

Bhabhua: Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav on Sunday accused Chief Minister Nitish Kumar of having deceived Lalu Prasad into forging an alliance between them, and expressed bewilderment at the RJD supreme falling into the JD(U) leader's trap despite being convicted in the fodder scam cases pursued by Kumar's men.

"I wonder what has prompted the RJD supremo to stand with Kumar despite being convicted for five years of imprisonment in the fodder scam which was pursued by the chief minister's men in the courts," Yadav said during an election meeting at Bhabhua town in Kaimur district.

"Prasad suffered irreparable loss politically due to conviction in the fodder scam, but amazingly he chose to stand by Kumar... I wonder what could be the reason behind that," the SP supremo said.

Describing Kumar to be a 'fraud', Yadav said the JD(U) leader ended up cheating despite initially making moves to bring the disparate Janata Parivar constituents under one banner, in an apparent reference to meagre five seats offered by the secular alliance to his party for the Bihar assembly polls which led to the party's exit.

Yadav also raised a question mark over claims of development undertaken by the Bihar chief minister during his decade-long rule in the poll-bound state, saying that the SP government in Uttar Pradesh has done much more in the three-and-a-half-year rule by the Akhilesh Yadav government.

The former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister also attacked both the RJD and JD(U) for betraying socialist movement by not doing enough for welfare of the poor people.