Patna: RJD president Lalu Prasad’s eldest daughter Misa Bharti on Thursday drew flak from the BJP-led NDA in Bihar for an uncharitable reference to the “old” age of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Bharti, who is the RJD candidate from Patliputra, made the remarks while canvassing in the constituency where she attacked the NDA government at the Centre for bringing in the Agniveer scheme of recruitment in armed services.
In a video clip, purportedly of Wednesday, now viral on social media, the Rajya Sabha MP can be heard as saying: “What did this government do in 10 years? It brought in Agniveer. Young people fighting for the country will be retired at the age of 22. On the other hand, we have an old Prime Minister who at the age of 75 wants a third consecutive term”.
Predictably, the BJP flew in rage and sought to remind the RJD leader that her father, too, was at a ripe age. “PM Modi is much younger than Lalu Prasad. Misa Bharti should keep this in mind and think before heaping insults in this manner,” said BJP national spokesman Syed Shahnawaz Hussain.
JD(U) chief spokesperson Neeraj Kumar, whose party is headed by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and is an NDA partner, asked, “Does Misa Bharti speak of her father in a similar tone?”.
Referring to Bharti’s rival in Pataliputra, the JD(U) leader added: “She will learn her lessons. The blessings of Ram are with Ram Kripal”. Ram Kripal Yadav, a former close aide of the RJD supremo, had joined the BJP ahead of Lok Sabha polls in 2014 when he defeated Bharti and was rewarded with a berth in the Union council of ministers.
Five years later, Bharti suffered defeat at the hands of her father’s disgruntled close aide for a second time. Covering areas of rural Patna, Patliputra, where voting is scheduled in the final phase, is set to witness yet another straight contest between Bharti and Yadav.