Patna, Jan 14: JD(U) parliamentary board chief Upendra Kushwaha on Saturday said that delay by the RJD in taking action against minister Chandra Shekhar and MLA Sudhaker Singh might give credence to speculations that Lalu Prasad’s party had struck a compromise with the BJP.
Kushwaha made the exasperated remark in reply to queries from journalists about Singh’s relentless, and often personal, attacks on Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Chandra Shekhar’s uncharitable remarks about “Ramcharitmanas” which have triggered a controversy.
He said “Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav has himself said that Sudhaker Singh’s behaviour was tantamount to helping the BJP. Chandra Shekhar, the Education minister, has caused the political discourse to centre around Ramcharitmanas and it is a no brainer that BJP will gain the most if the controversy lingers on”. “It is high time that action was taken against the two leaders who have caused embarrassment to the Mahagathbandhan government. If the RJD does not restrain those who are helping the BJP then allegations of a clandestine deal with the saffron party will ring true”, said the JD(U) leader.
Kushwhaha used the term ‘Kanooni raahat’ (legal relief) to explain the alleged RJD-BJP “deal”, indirectly referring to cases lodged by central agencies against Prasad, the RJD supremo, and family members including Yadav, the younger son and heir apparent.
Kushwaha rued that the JD(U) has “become weak” over the past many years and “if people get away with heaping insults on the chief minister, who is our supreme leader, then we will be only be pushed backwards”.
When asked to comment on Kushwaha’s outbursts, JD(U) national president Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias ‘Lalan’ said “the JD(U) is not moving backwards but marching forward. As regards action against errant leaders is concerned, the RJD leadership is competent enough to take a call”. (PTI)
