Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) national president Lalu Prasad, while campaigning for the Belaganj Assembly bypoll in Bihar on Monday, exhorted people to “uproot Narendra Modi and throw him beyondthe seven seas.”
“I am unwell but am standing here tight and upright to ensure the victory of our alliance and to uproot Narendra Modi andthrow him away beyond the seven seas,” Lalu said at an election meeting in Belaganj, at the end of campaigning. The seat goes to polls on November 13.
“Our Hindu, Muslim and Yadav brothers have always remained united and thrown out the communal forces. I appeal to them to stay together so that nobody could divide them. I have seen many prime ministers and chief ministers. Press the EVM button next to the lantern (RJD’s election symbol) and uproot the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) like mooli (radish),”Lalu added.
The RJD chief also sang a few lines of his favourite Bhojpuri song “lagal lagal jhulaniya mein dhakka, balam Kalkatta chali” which indirectly means that he would shove his opponents so hard that they would be thrown far away.
Lalu did not spare Union home minister Amit Shah and chief minister Nitish Kumar either and asserted that they would not be able to harm him in any manner. He is at present facingseveral corruption cases registered against him by the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate.
Bihar is witnessing Assembly by-polls on four seats – Belaganj, Imamganj, Ramgarh and Tarari. Allthese seats became vacant after their representatives got elected to the Lok Sabha earlier this year.
Muscleman politician Surendra Prasad Yadav was the Belaganj MLA before becoming elected as the Jehanabad MP. He has dominated politics in the area and the Assembly seat has been a pocket borough of the RJD for the last 35 years.
The RJD has fielded his son Vishwanath Prasad Yadav in the Assembly bypoll. He is pitted in a quadrangular contest with Janata Dal United (JDU) candidate Manorama Devi, JanSuraaj Party candidate Mohammad Amjad and Zamin Ali Khan of Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM.
The constituency has a large number of Muslim and Yadav voters, who have traditionally supported the RJD in elections. However, the presence of Jan Suraaj and AIMIM candidates has scared the party about adivision of their votes, which could benefit the JDU candidate. It is this reason that forced Lalu to enter the campaign at the last minute.
