RJD leader Tejashwi Yatra on Wednesday drew flak for sharing the stage with people with criminal backgrounds during his ongoing "samvidhan bachao nyay yatra" across Bihar.
Neeraj Kumar, MLC and spokesman of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's JD(U), shot off a letter to the police chief of neighbouring state of Jharkhand saying he feared that Yadav may seek the help of criminals to facilitate the escape from jail of his father Lalu Prasad.
"In place of samvidhan yatra, Tejashwi should pay attention to the samvidhan (constitution) of his own party which has had the same person as its national president for 17 years, most members of a single family occupying key posts and a dreaded figure like Mohd Shahabuddin in its national executive", Sushil Modi who is a senior BJP leader, tweeted.
The RJD was founded in the 1990s by Lalu Prasad who has been heading the party all through. His wife Rabri Devi is a national vice-president, younger son Tejashwi Yadav its Chief Ministerial candidate for the next assembly polls and eldest daughter Misa Bharti and elder son Tej Pratap Yadav are members of the national executive.
Shahabuddin, one of the most dreaded history-sheeter politicians of Bihar, has been a party MP for many terms. Convicted in a number of cases, he has been disqualified from contesting elections and is currently lodged in Tihar jail.
Sushil Modi's comments come in the wake of Yadav meeting Shahabuddin's family members in Siwan where the former MP's wife even shared the stage with him. Besides, on Tuesday while he was in Gopalganj one Suresh Chaudhary said to be involved in several criminal cases was seen sharing the dais with Tejashwi Yadav and clicking selfies.
In a letter addressed to the Jharkhand DGP, Neeraj Kumar alleged that Yadav's hobnobbing with the family members of Shahabuddin besides Chaudhary - "named in many criminal cases including murder, dacoity and those lodged under Arms Act" - made him suspect that an attempt may be made to "facilitate the escape of Lalu from jail".
Lalu Prasad, serving sentences in a number of fodder scam cases by a CBI court in Ranchi, is currently lodged in a hospital on account of ill-health.
The RJD, however, defended Yadav - a former Deputy CM himself - saying public figures met many people whom they did not know.
"Tejashwi being photographed with somebody unknown to him is not a crime. On the other hand, Chief Minister and JD(U) president Nitish Kumar had allowed a liquor mafia inside his official residence and later posed for a photograph. That was a crime", RJD spokesman and MLA Shakti Singh Yadav alleged.
His comment was a reference to one Rakesh Singh, said to be main accused in a hooch tragedy case, gaining entry into the 1, Anney Marg bungalow after which photographs were brandished by opposition parties to question Kumar's commitment to prohibition.
(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)