Patna: Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Yadav has taken a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar over PM Modi’s comments in the Rajya Sabha that dynastic parties are the biggest threat to democracy.
Lalu Yadav has nine children. His son, Tejashwi Yadav, was Bihar Deputy Chief Minister in 2015 when the Rashtriya Janata Dal, or RJD, and Mr Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) were in a short-lived alliance. Tejashwi Yadav is seen to be in line to head the RJD after Lalu Prasad, although his father hasn’t confirmed it publicly.
“Modi never had any children. Nitish has a son who is averse to politics. One can only pray that they are blessed with children who can carry forward their political legacy,” said the RJD chief, who is out on bail in the Bihar fodder scam, in which he was convicted of swindling government funds meant for cattle fodder.
On a question whether the BJP feels threatened by Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and Tejashwi Yadav’s possible rise, Lalu Yadav said, “You think so?”
PM Modi had also blasted the Congress and the Gandhis in parliament on February 8, saying “talent is the first casualty of dynastic politics” and listed how the country would have been different “if there were no Congress”.
“The Congress’s problem is it has never thought beyond its dynasty. The biggest threats to democracy are dynastic parties. And when a family becomes paramount then the first casualty is talent,” PM Modi had said in Rajya Sabha, replying to a debate on government policies.
PM Modi had also praised Nitish Kumar for not bringing any family member into politics. Nitish Kumar has a son, Nishant Kumar, an engineering graduate who has mostly stayed away from his father’s political work.
Tejashwi Yadav’s mother Rabri Devi succeeded his father as the Chief Minister and held the post till the RJD’s defeat in 2005 at the hands of an alliance between the BJP and Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United), or JD(U).
Tejashwi Yadav is now Leader of the Opposition in the Bihar assembly. His elder brother, Tej Pratap Yadav, is a second term RJD MLA, and eldest sister Misa Bharti is an MP.
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