Lalu says most BJP leaders ‘drunkards’

Patna: Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) president Lalu Prasad has dubbed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as a gang of “drunkards” in a latest attack on the saffron camp days after he blamed it for the recent devastating floods in Bihar.

Prasad whose party is a coalition partner in the ruling Grand Alliance (GA) government in the state headed by chief minister Nitish Kumar launched fresh salvos on the Hindu nationalist party shortly after the brother of a BJP lawmaker was caught drinking by the police in Bihar where total prohibition has been imposed since April this year.

“He [the arrested brother of BJP lawmaker] is not alone. In fact, most of the BJP leaders are drunkards,” Prasad told the media on Friday evening. He also suggested that the arrested BJP leader’s brother should be badly thrashed [for breaking the liquor laws in the state]”.

The BJP reacted angrily to the remarks by the RJD chief calling it was unbecoming of a leader like Prasad to pass such comments in public. “The remark doesn’t suit the stature of a leader like Lalu Prasad. He should think twice before making such statements to the media,” said Bihar opposition leader Prem Kumar of the BJP.

Stoutly denying such charges, Kumar said most of the BJP leaders were “disciplined and dedicated soldiers”. He accused the RJD chief of making such irresponsible statements out of sheer frustration with the BJP fast strengthening its base in the state.

The BJP leader also took potshots at the ruling GA government for failing to check supply and brewing of alcohol in the state despite prohibition coming into force more than four months back. “Its best example is Gopalganj incident where at least 18 people died after consuming spurious liquor,” he alleged.

Earlier this week, the RJD chief had blamed the BJP for the recent spate of floods in Bihar charging the BJP-ruled states with discharging huge volumes of waters without intimating the state government and had also vowed to order an investigation into the entire episode.

“The BJP-ruled states like Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand discharged huge amount of water into the rivers flowing through Bihar without intimating the state government. This brought sudden floods in the state and caused massive destruction,” Prasad had alleged, adding, “We will probe as to why and under what circumstances these states released waters.”