Lalu wants to run Bihar with remote control: PM Modi

Sasaram/Aurangabad, October 9

Raising the ‘Jungle Raj’ pitch, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today warned that Lalu Prasad will “remote control” the affairs in Bihar and “kidnapping” will be the only industry that will flourish if the Opposition grand alliance comes to power.

Addressing election meetings in Sasaram and Aurangabad ahead of the Bihar poll starting on October 12, Modi also attacked Nitish Kumar, Lalu Prasad and Sonia Gandhi for not giving an account of their performance of their 60 years rule in the state and said they have nothing else to speak except abuse him during campaigning.

“He (Lalu) now wants to run Bihar with remote control since he himself cannot contest elections. He says that he is a ‘Big Boss’ and he can make anyone dance to his tunes,” Modi said in Sasaram, reminding people of Lalu’s conviction in the fodder scam due to which he has been barred from contesting poll.

Scaling up the attack against the grand alliance on the issue in another poll rally in Aurangabad, the Prime Minister ridiculed Nitish Kumar for objecting to his ‘jungle raj’ comments instead of Lalu doing so.

“When we talk about ‘jungle raj’, it is Nitish Kumar who gets disturbed and not Lalu. It is he who had called Lalu’s rule as ‘jungle raj’. Now he is objecting it being called so.

“Does Bihar need jungle raj again? What industry flourished during jungle raj? It is only the kidnapping industry that flourished,” he said.

“New cars were snatched away, the houses of the poor were captured. Do you want such days again in Bihar? Should Bihar go back to the same days?,” Modi asked.

Attacking Kumar on his promise of ushering in good governance, the Prime Minister reeled out figures of crime in the state ever since the JD-U leader joined hands with RJD, ushering in a fresh spell of lawlessness.

He said there are indications to this effect ever since they have come together and as many as 4,000 abductions have taken place between January and July. He also recalled that a police officer was shot at in Patna last night.

“If a police officer is not safe. How can a common man be?

“This kind of jungle raj has already come when they have just come together. What will be the fate of Bihar if you commit the mistake of voting for them. Please save Bihar from being ruined,” he said.

The BJP has been targeting the grand alliance, saying with Lalu being a part of it, there will be ‘Jungle Raj-2’.

Training his guns on leaders of the grand alliance, he said, “Should Lalu, Kumar and Sonia Gandhi not give an account of their 60 year rule and what they did for Bihar? But during campaigning, these three have not even spoken on it.

“They only abuse Modi day and night. Early morning they see the dictionary to find new abuses for Modi. Now even the dictionary does not suffice. So, they have now come out with a factory to manufacture new abuses,” he said at a rally in Aurangabad in central Bihar.

In Sasaram, the constituency of Dalit leader late Jagjivan Ram, he hit out at Kumar for “backstabbing” dalits by removing maha dalit leader Jitan Ram Manjhi as Chief Minister. — PTI