‘Paida bahut kar diye’: Nitish Kumar's attack on Lalu Prasad over ‘too many children’

Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar on Saturday trained guns at Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav over dynastic politics saying the former CM has only been promoting his family members.

Addressing a rally in Katihar, the JD(U) leader said that Lalu Prasad appointed his wife as Bihar chief minister after he had to step down.

“Nowadays, (promoting) his children,” Nitish said.

“Paida toh bahut kar diye…Itna jyada paida karna chahiye kisi ko, baal-bachcha? (Produced too many…Should anyone produce so many children),” he asked rhetorically.

Read: Lalu to campaign for daughter Rohini Acharya in Saran

“Now they have involved their daughters, two sons, and everyone. They keep saying something or other everywhere. People forget the old things, hence, I want to tell everyone that no work used to get done. People could not get out, there were no roads or education,” the chief minister said.

When asked to comment on Nitish's remark, Tejashwi Yadav affirmed that making personal comments won't help the people of Bihar.

“With folded hands, I want to tell the chief minister that you are senior to us, and we respect you and will continue to do that. You can say whatever you want, that is your right,” Tejashwi Yadav said.

“Whatever he would say, that is going to be a blessing for us. However, making personal comments won't help the people of Bihar. He shouldn't make such remarks. But whatever he says, I will take it as a blessing,” he added.

Lalu Prasad's two daughters – Misa Bharti and Rohini Acharya – are in the fray for the parliamentary elections. RJD has fielded Misa Bharti from Pataliputra and Rohini Acharya from Saran Lok Sabha seat. Lalu Prasad's younger son, Tejashwi Yadav, was the deputy chief minister in the previous Nitish-led government and the older Tej Pratap Yadav held the environment portfolio. Tejashwi Yadav has emerged as the main challenger of Nitish Kumar, who has been in power in Bihar for almost 19 years.

Read: Nitish Kumar slams Lalu Yadav for dynastic politics, asks how many will contest

A day before, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge addressed back-to-back election rallies in Kishanganj and Katihar Lok Sabha constituencies in Bihar, where he came down heavily on Nitish Kumar, alleging that the Bihar chief minister had "no principles" and, hence, was "more dangerous" than even the BJP.

"Our ally Tejashwi Yadav (RJD leader) has many times lamented the betrayal of his chacha (uncle). I say it is good riddance. People like Nitish Kumar are more dangerous than the BJP and RSS, which at least have a known ideology, however flawed. Nitish Kumar has no principles. He cares only for power".

Janata Dal (United) is contesting the Lok Sabha elections as part of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) after Nitish Kumar dumped the opposition INDIA bloc that he had helped form a few months ago.