Patna: The political situation in Bihar suddenly turned volatile on Thursday after former health minister Tej Pratap Yadav allegedly threatened to thrash Bihar deputy chief minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Sushil Kumar Modi, drawing similar threats from his rivals.
Tej Pratap who is the elder son of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) president Lalu Prasad was angry that junior Modi had exposed some scandals involving his family, leading to registration of fresh cases against his family members.
He reportedly threatened the deputy chief minister when the latter called him to invite him for his son’s wedding early next month.
“Modi has invited me for the wedding as he wants to insult us further. I am not scared and our fight will go on. I will go to his house and give him a good thrashing right there in front of his guests,” Tej Pratap reportedly said addressing a public meeting held in Aurangabad town.
He also threatened to disrupt the wedding and set the wedding canopy on fire, while also warning to expose how Modi made his “ill-gotten wealth”. “My patience is running out fast. I will expose him right in the presence of guests. He (Modi) is directly involved in the toilet construction scam and the NGO scam, but the government is trying to save him even while the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has raided his house,” he alleged. A video of his speeches has now gone viral on social media.
Modi expressed shock and surprise over the threats. “This is not expected from the man who has served as a cabinet minister. What kind of manners Lalu Prasad has inculcated in him?” he said. He added that he himself had attended the wedding of Prasad’s daughters, setting aside political rivalry. He urged the RJD president to restrain his son.
However, the BJP’s ally Janata Dal United (JD-U) issued similar threats to Prasad’s son, charging the already tense atmosphere. “We dare him to beat Modi. If he does, he will get it back,” threatened two JD-U spokespersons, Neeraj Kumar and Sanjay Singh.
The fresh development comes barely hours after Tej Pratap’s mother and former chief minister Rabri Devi said many people want “to slit the throat of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and chop his hands off”. She made these remarks while reacting to Bihar BJP president Nityanand Rai’s threats to “chop off the hands” of the PM’s critics. He later apologised for these remarks following wide protests.
Although they have been sworn enemies, the political rivalry between RJD and BJP-JD-U combine took a serious turn soon after chief minister Nitish Kumar in a sudden move walked out of the ruling Grand Alliance in Bihar and formed his new government with the BJP in July this year. Kumar’s JD-U was a partner in the three-party Grand Alliance comprising the RJD and the Congress, which fought against the BJP-led NDA in the last 2015 Bihar state polls and posted a convincing victory over its rival.
