“Lalu Yadav’s Daughter Must Apologise To Nitish Kumar”: BJP’s Telling Move
The Bihar BJP on Thursday accused Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Yadav’s Singapore-based daughter Rohini Acharya of insulting Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and demanded a public apology from her.
Ms Acharya had used derogatory language against Mr Kumar, who is also the ruling Janata Dal (United) chief, in several posts on X and deleted them later, Bihar BJP leader Nikhil Anand said. Sharing a screenshot of the purported deleted posts, Mr Anand said, “These are like an arrow released from the bow.”
The BJP leader said if Ms Acharya regretted having used words like “badtameez” (ill-mannered) against the Chief Minister in the posts, she should publicly apologise.
Some media reports claimed Ms Acharya had reacted to Mr Kumar’s statement against dynastic politics at a JD(U) rally commemorating former Chief Minister and socialist icon Karpoori Thakur’s birth anniversary on Wednesday. Thakur was conferred with the Bharat Ratna posthumously earlier this week.
While addressing the rally, Mr Kumar criticised dynastic politics, saying the JD(U) followed the path shown by Thakur by not promoting anyone from their families in the party ranks.
The comment was seen aimed at the RJD, an ally of the JD(U) in Bihar’s Mahagathbandhan government, in which Lalu Yadav’s sons are ministers.
Lalu Yadav’s younger son Tejashwi Yadav is the Deputy Chief Minister; the elder son Tej Pratap Yadav is a minister in the state cabinet. The RJD chief’s eldest daughter Misa Bharti is a Rajya Sabha member.
JD(U) leader KC Tyagi today refuted the allegations that Mr Kumar took a swipe at Lalu Yadav.
“Nitish Kumar was addressing a programme organised on the birth anniversary of Karpoori Thakur, whom he has idolised. Like all great socialists, Thakur abhorred dynastic succession in politics. This was the simple fact Nitish Kumar wanted to underscore. Nothing more should be read into it,” Mr Tyagi said.
“Nitish Kumar has no wish to condemn any regional party or leader,” Mr Tyagi said. “Those who think a dynasty is essential for the nation, are free to draw their own conclusion,” he added.
Mr Yadav today asked the Chief Minister to meet him in what was seen as an attempt to pacify the alliance partner, sources said.