Portions of former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav’s memoir have created quite a stir in the past few days. Excerpts from the memoir of the RJD supremo, who is currently serving prison time in connection with the multi-crore fodder scam, claims that Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar wanted to join Mahagathbandhan just months after he returned to the National Democratic party, ejecting the RJD from power.
As per the RJD chief, Prashant Kishor, Nitish’s trusted aide, attempted to strike a deal between the two leaders to facilitate Kumar’s return. However, Lalu apparently says in his memoir that he snubbed the offer having lost complete faith in Nitish Kumar.
According to Lalu’s memoir, all these developments took place months after Bihar CM Nitish Kumar broke ties with Lalu’s RJD citing corruption charges against his son Tejashwi Yadav and several other leaders.
JD(U) leader KC Tyagi, as well as Bihar’s Deputy CM Sushil Modi, have categorically denied that JD(U) attempted to return to Mahagathbandhan.
Now, Prashant Kishor has taken to Twitter to deny these claims and termed Lalu’s assertions as untrue. “The claims made by Laluji as reported are BOGUS. This is nothing but a poor attempt seeking relevance by a leader whose best days are behind him.” Accepting the fact that he had met Lalu Prasad Yadav, Kishor said, “Yes, we did meet many times before I joined JDU, but if I were to tell what all was discussed then he would be quite embarrassed.” Kishor did not divulge the purpose of his meetings with the RJD chief.
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On the other hand, Tejashwi Yadav spoke to news agency, ANI, and backed Lalu Prasad Yadav’s claims. “I say this with full responsibility, Nitish Kumar made many attempts to get back and ally with us, he tried many different approaches, that also within 6 months of returning to NDA.”
As elections come knocking, RJD boss Lalu grabbed the chance to spill the beans on many important points in India’s political history in his memoir. Lalu, a former Union minister and Bihar chief minister, has penned the memoir along with journalist-turned-teacher Nalin Verma. The memoir will be released on April 6, a statement by Rupa Publications said.
The memoir has been titled “Gopalganj to Raisina”, and shows the journey of India’s “most colourful” political leader and chronicles his humble beginnings in Phulwaria village to his rise as the Railway Minister, the statement said.
