Lalu set to head RJD for 10th term, promises to oust NDA governments at Centre, in Bihar

All set to become the national president of the RJD for the 10th consecutive term, Lalu Prasad, said here on Sunday that he would uitlise the new innings to unite all anti-BJP forces to oust the Narendra Modi government at the Centre and JD (U)-led NDA government in Bihar. 

Speaking to newsmen, soon after filing his nomination papers to the election officer for the ongoing organisational polls Jagdanand Singh, at the state party office, Lalu said he was committed to the party constitution. “It is a reflection of party’s resolve to maintain the unity, integrity and secular fabric of the country,” he said. 

Lalu, who became the party chief for the first time on July 5, 1997,was the only one to file paper for the top party post. Unless he chooses to back out on his own on Monday, the last date for withdrawal, he will once again head the party. The official declaration will be made at the RJD national council meeting on November 21. 

The RJD is facing the same challenges as is being witnessed by the country, he said, taking a dig at the “anti-people” policies being pursued by the Centre. Terming the high value currency note ban and GST as “reckless decisions”, he demanded their “immediate roll back”, given the hardships caused to the millions of digitally illiterate people in the country. 

The RJD chief also came down heavily on UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath’s promise that there would be ‘Ram Rajya’ in the country by 2022. “Who has seen ‘Ram Rajya’? It is like selling a ‘pipe dream’ with the express intent of diverting attention from failures that too with a hope of getting an extension,” he said. 

The people are not going to fall into the trap for making an advance booking for a ‘cinema show’. We will force Modi government to explain what it has done for improving the lives of the people, Lalu said, adding, “it will not work this time.” 

Senior RJD leaders Abdul Bari Siddiqui and Raghuvansh Prasad Singh also endorsed Lalu’s ‘unopposed’ elevation as the national president saying, “the party needs an accepted leader like him to play out a crucial role at national level to shape politics for helping the country fight the grave challenges staring at it.”