Bihar Govt can’t take credit for release: Lalu, Paswan

RJD and LJP leaders Lalu Prasad and Ramvilas Paswan on Monday said that the three Bihar policemen held hostage for eight days by Maoists had been freed on humanitarian grounds and the Nitish Kumar government could not take credit for it.

Mr. Prasad said, “The Maoists let off the policemen on humanitarian grounds, I don’t know what the police and the state government did about it.”

Renewing his appeal to Maoists to shun violence and return to the mainstream, he told reporters here, “Violence can’t be a solution to any problem. They should come and join the mainstream of society.”

The LJP chief said the state government had failed to tackle the hostage crisis and the policemen “who were at the mercy of Maoists had been let off on humanitarian grounds.

“Nitish Kumar and his government have been an abject failure to tackle the hostage crisis. They cannot take credit for the release of the policemen,” Mr. Paswan told reporters.

Had the state government taken steps from the day one, the Maoists would not have killed BMP ASI Lucas Tete, he said, and claimed, “The state government called an all-party meeting only under intense pressure from us. And, the result is visible today.”

Mr. Paswan also held that the appeals by the families of the policemen had influenced the Maoists to release their captives unharmed.

Both said that they were happy that the policemen had returned safely and were now with their families.

“We are heaving a sigh of relief,” Mr. Prasad said.

Speaking in the same vein, Mr. Paswan said he would meet them personally.