Patna: Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) president Lalu Prasad on Sunday filed his nomination for the party president’s post amid presence of top party leaders and media glare. He is set to be elected unopposed for the 10th consecutive time as none looks in sight to challenge his candidature. Also there is none in the party of his stature to take his place.
Dressed in green kurta (a loose shirt) and sporting uneven hairs, Prasad rushed to the party office in the morning and filed his nominations before the returning officer. The result of the election will be declared on November 21.
Earlier a story was doing the rounds in the party circles that his younger son Tejashwi Yadav could take his place now that Prasad is suffering from health problems and has grown a bit old. The story gained ground after performance of Tejashwi as deputy chief minister was widely hailed among the masses.
But, now with his father filing the nomination for RJD president, all such speculations have come to an abrupt end.
Prasad first became the president of the party in July 1997, soon after he formed the RJD after rebelling against the then ruling unified Janata Dal (JD). Since then, he has been holding the post.
Speaking on the occasion, Prasad launched massive assaults on the ruling Narendra Modi government and vowed to throw it out of power in the next general elections due in 2019.
“My main objective now is to bring all the secular forces together and forcibly throw out the Narendra Modi government from the throne. The BJP is nation’s enemy,” he declared.
He even demanded for banning use of ATMs and stopping GST claiming majority population in the country is illiterate and they are beyond their comprehension.
He described the Modi government as a “complete failure” on all fronts saying all that the government had done in the past three years is to talk big.
“The Narendra Modi government has proved to be a government of hollow promises (hawabaziwali sarkar). There is an Emergency-like situation in the country. The government implemented demonetisation without giving much thought to it and the entire country faced its consequences,” he alleged.
