A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar displayed camaraderie while sharing the stage in Patna, a senior leader of the Rashtriya Janata Dal, which is part of the ruling alliance in Bihar, fumed at party chief Lalu Yadav being made to sit on the floor during the event.
‘People of Bihar unhappy’
“Why was Lalu Prasad Yadav, the leader of an alliance party in the government, seated on the floor? It is a mahagathbandhan government in Bihar, so the leaders should have been there on the stage,” senior RJD leader and former Union Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh said. “It appeared that the State had a JD(U) government and not a coalition government. The people of Bihar did not like it.”
At the makeshift gurudwara set up in Patna’s Gandhi Maidan on the concluding day of the week-long Sikh festival of Prakash Parv, the RJD chief was seated on the floor along with his two Minister sons and many other dignitaries. However, two Union Ministers from Bihar, Ravi Shankar Prasad and Ram Vilas Paswan, were on the stage along with Mr. Modi and Mr. Kumar. But other Union Ministers like Ram Kripal Yadav and Harsimrat Kaur were seen sitting on the floor in the VIP enclosure.
Later, Lalu Yadav and his sons had lunch with the Prime Minister.
Reacting to Mr. Singh’s poser, the State Congress president Ashok Chaudhury told journalists that the PMO should be asked why it made such a seating arrangement on the stage.
“The PMO should respond why it was so … Lalu Prasad is a leader of the biggest alliance party and his party was in rule for 15 years in the State,” Mr. Chaudhury told mediapersons while sitting on a day-long protest along with party leaders against demonetisation in Patna.
Mr. Yadav, however, kept mum on the issue even though his son, Deputy Chief Minister Tejaswi Yadav, said: “ Lalu Yadav zamini neta hain toh zamin par baithe the (Lalu Yadav is rooted to the ground so he was seated on the ground). Everyone sits on the floor in a place of worship, there was nothing unusual about it.”
‘Matter of protocol’
JD(U) spokesperson Sanjay Singh said about the seating arrangement: “It was a matter of protocol. Moreover, when RJD chief Lalu Prasad has no problem, why is Raghuvansh Prasad Singh so concerned?”
