NEW DELHI: Rebel RJD leader Ram Kripal Yadav today joined BJP and sang paeans for the party’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi while accusing his mentor Lalu Prasad of promoting his family instead of acting for social justice.
Yadav, who had been a close aide of RJD chief Lalu Prasad, joined BJP in the presence of party president Rajnath Singh and senior leaders from Bihar including Ravi Shankar Prasad.
Welcoming him into the party fold, Rajnath Singh said Yadav has been RJD’s secretary general for the last 17 years and had decided to support the BJP.
Expressing his gratitude to the BJP leadership for accepting him into the party, Yadav said he will work for the party not as a leader but as a worker, which he has been for the last 35 years of his political life.
Yadav, a former legislator and a Rajya Sabha MP, accused Lalu Prasad of “promoting” his family over his party workers, who he said, were feeling stifled.
“RJD has moved away from its core values. Lalu gave precedence to his family over party and cadres. I was in a dilemma on what to do for the last few days and then decided to quit the party and join BJP for the sake of giving social justice,” he said.
“I have never been a leader. I have been a common worker in my 35 years of working in the RJD. The RJD workers in Bihar are feeling suffocated as family is being given importance. I felt social justice should be taken forward and not family justice,” Yadav said in the presence of top BJP leadership.
Ram Kripal Yadav is keen to contest from the Pataliputra seat on which the RJD has fielded Lalu’s daughter Misa Bharti.
Supporting Modi, Yadav said he was proud that BJP had nominated a tea-seller coming from a backward class as its prime ministerial candidate and vowed to strive hard to make him the Prime Minister. In saying so, he also touted his own humble background.
Lauding Modi for improving the plight of Gujarat Muslims, Yadav accused the Nitish Kumar government of raising the bogey of communalism for the sake of votes and not doing any development work.
He claimed there has been no development of Muslims in Bihar and said, “Muslims have started realizing that they have been used as a vote bank. The way Muslims have progressed in Gujarat is an example.”
He said he was a “secular person” and would always remain so and praised BJP and Modi for development of all and not just a community.
“When a tea vendor’s son can be the PM candidate, then why can’t this son of a backward father support Narendra Modi,” he said.
Dealing a major blow to Lalu Prasad, Ram Kripal Yadav resigned from all party posts of the RJD a few days ago after the RJD chief ignored his claim over Pataliputra ticket.
He had met top BJP leaders in the national capital yesterday and gave indications that he would cross over to saffron ranks ahead of Lok Sabha polls.
Ram Kripal’s closeness to the BJP is being attributed to LJP President Ram Vilas Paswan, who is said to have played a key role in building bridges between him and BJP.
Paswan himself junked a long standing alliance with the RJD in Bihar recently to strike a pre-poll deal with the BJP in Bihar which has 40 Lok Sabha seats.–PTI
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