Lalu always bounced back, say RJD leaders

Patna: With RJD boss Lalu Yadav behind bars, the Rashtriya Janata Dal party, led by his son Tejashwi Yadav, is all set to play the sympathy and the caste cards. Tejashwi Yadav is planning a ‘Nyay Yatra’ across the state to whip up sympathy for his father and try to rally the subaltern vote bank. 

“Lalu Yadav is a victim of a political vendetta and people will give a fitting reply to our opponents,” Tejashwi Yadav said after a party meeting in Patna on Saturday, urging  workers to remain united in the absence of his father.

Analysts said that Lalu Yadav, who has been sent to jail seven times earlier, has always bounced back and emerged stronger after a stint in prison.

RJD MLA Mohammad Neamatullah told this newspaper that people, especially Muslims and Yadavs, feel that the BJP has been trying to suppress Lalu Yadav’s voice by using investigative agencies. 

The verdict in the fodder scam case has come at a time when Lalu Yadav was preparing to stitch together a secular alliance against the BJP. 

Analysts are of the view that Lalu Yadav’s conviction for the second time in the fodder scam will not impact the party’s relationship with the Congress which is trying to return to power in 2020 Bihar Assembly elections. 

Congress spokesperson Saroj Kumar said, “We formed a secular alliance in Bihar to stop the communal forces. In the coming elections, the grand secular alliance will stop the NDA not only in Bihar but also at the national level.”

An RJD functionary claimed that “if the public sentiment continued to remain the same” in 2019, the RJD along with the Congress could give the NDA “a run for its money.”