New Delhi : Past events have the habit of casting their lingering shadows on the status of the current political ties between leaders.
In this context, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi and Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav have a troubled past right from the time the former vetoed a UPA government ordinance in 2013 to protect convicted lawmakers that would have helped Prasad remain an MP, even if without pay and without voting rights in Parliament till acquitted in the fodder scam case.
So, there has been speculation that the popular Yadav boss would not be sharing the stage with the Congress leader when he would be launching the party’s election campaign from Ramnagar in West Champaran, an event that would also mark the 125th birth anniversary celebrations of Dalit icon BR Ambedkar.
It has now been decided that Lalu Yadav would be deputing his son Tejaswi as the party’s representative for the event.
“This should not be seen as any sign of discord between the two parties or the leaders. We have a long way to go in the campaign, and there would be several occasions when the people would see the right images,” said RJD spokesperson Manoj Jha.
Dispelling any doubts over the solidity of the secular alliance, Jha observed that the stoutest defence of the BJP’s jungle raj criticism against Yadav had come from the Congress.
“The Congress stance that the real jungle raaj has been seen during the last 15 months of Modi sarkar is the fittest response to this criticism,” he added.
From the Congress side as well it is being emphasised that there are no intra-alliance issues.” We have seen that Modi government is just a façade for the divisive agenda of the RSS. The slogan ”sabka saath, sabka vikas” has proved hollow and the only political goal is to defeat these communal forces,” said Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala.
Anil Sharma
