Lalu, Mamata, Akhilesh share stage
PATNA : In a display of opposition unity against the BJP, political heavyweights, including West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and Samajwadi Party president and former UP CM Akhilesh Yadav, shared a platform at RJD chief Lalu Prasad’s mega rally in Patna on Sunday.
At the ‘Desh Bachao, BJP Bhagao’ rally, rebel JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav pledged to form a ‘Mahagathbandhan’ (Grand Alliance) at the national level to defeat and oust the BJP-led NDA in the next general election.
Yadav, who is staring at an expulsion from the party for defying orders against attending the rally, was accompanied by suspended JD(U) Rajya Sabha MP Ali Anwar to the event, which saw participation of thousands of peple. Attacking Bihar CM Nitish Kumar, Prasad said, “No party can ever trust Nitish Kumar now… He has no ideology, principle… He hobnobbed with the BJP and people warned me about it, but I said no he could not do it.” Prasad said Kumar envied his son and former deputy CM Tejaswhi Prasad Yadav due to his increasing popularity.
He said, “The BJP has gripped Nitish Kumar and it will throw him out whenever it will feel so.”
Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad and Congress general secretary CP Joshi were present at the rally. Congress president Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi gave the meet a miss but their statements were read out at the rally. “This rally will help unite the opposition,” read Rahul Gandhi’s statement.
Banerjee attacked the Centre for “using agencies to terrorise people” who speak against it, saying she was not afraid of anyone.
Others who attended the rally included former Jharkhand CMs Hemant Soren and Babulal Marandi, CPI leaders Sudhakar Reddy and D Raja, NCP leader Tariq Anwar, former Bihar CM Rabri Devi and RJD MP Misa Bharti.
Out of power in Bihar after Kumar’s U-turn, Prasad is believed to be preparing his party to consolidate his Muslim-Yadav and OBC vote bank in a bid to counter BJP-JD(U) combine in 2019 Lok Sabha elections.