RJD plans ‘Save the Constitution’ rally in Bihar’s Darbhanga to keep its leaders, workers together

Encouraged by Dalit leader and former CM Jitan Ram Manjhi quitting NDA and joining the RJD-led grand alliance, RJD is chalking out plans to hold similar rallies across the state.
Ranchi RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav and his son Tejashwi Yadav. (File Photo | PTI)
Ranchi RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav and his son Tejashwi Yadav. (File Photo | PTI)

PATNA: With jailed RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav’s wait for bail getting longer and the party’s leaders and workers in Bihar getting restive, the party is going to organise a ‘Save the Constitution’ rally in Darbhanga on April 28 in a bid to keep its flock together.

RJD, Bihar’s main Opposition party, is currently going through a massive crisis as its president and most prominent face, former CM Lalu Prasad Yadav, has been jailed after being convicted in four fodder scam cases. He is currently under treatment at AIIMS in New Delhi. Jharkhand High Court rejected his bail petition for the second time last week.

Former Bihar deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav, who is Lalu’s younger son, and his elder brother and former health minister Tej Pratap Yadav would be among a galaxy of RJD leaders who would address the rally in the north Bihar town. Party workers and leaders from at least six districts are expected to attend the rally, said sources.

Lalu’s trusted aide and MLA Bhola Yadav recently toured Darbhanga and held meetings with party colleagues from the area to discuss how to make the rally a grand success. “Prominent among the issues to be raised at the event would be the party’s claim that the NDA governments in Bihar and at the Centre have been targeting Lalu and his family out of political animosity,” said a senior RJD leader.

“Darbhanga was chosen for the rally after Union petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan and CM Nitish Kumar visited the town and announced free gas connections for Dalits and every other backward caste family in Bihar under Pradhan Mantri Ujwala Yojana,” said a state secretary of RJD.

Encouraged by Dalit leader and former CM Jitan Ram Manjhi quitting NDA and joining the RJD-led grand alliance, RJD is chalking out plans to hold similar rallies across the state in preparation for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. It was, however, still unclear if leaders of Congress, an RJD ally, would attend the Darbhanga rally.

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