RJD president Lalu Prasad on Friday claimed that the Narendra Modi government at the Centre was "weak" and could "fall" as early as within a month.
The remark was promptly dismissed by the BJP, which said the ailing septuagenarian was "hallucinating" and that the recent general elections were a reaffirmation of the people's faith in Modi's leadership.
Prasad made these predictions at an event organised to commemorate 28 years of the formation of his party, which he founded by splitting the Janata Dal.
Prasad, who spoke in a weak voice for less than 10 minutes, with younger son and heir apparent Tejashwi Yadav by his side, said "the Modi government is weak (kamzor). It can fall any time. It can fall in August". He urged party workers to be prepared for such a scenario.
He highlighted that in the recent Lok Sabha elections, the RJD had increased its seat count and vote share compared to five years ago.
"For quite some time, we have been the single largest party in the Bihar assembly. Unlike many others, we have never compromised on ideology," said Prasad, a staunch opponent of the BJP, recalling his tenure and achievements, including the arrest of Lal Krishna Advani in 1990. Prasad made the remark at a time most leaders of the NDA were at a BJP function where the newly inducted Union ministers, from Bihar, were felicitated.
Reacting to Prasad's statements later, Union Minister Nityanand Rai, a former Bihar BJP president, accused the RJD supremo of hallucinating, using a colloquial Hindi phrase "Mungeri Lal ke hasin sapne."
"People have voted for Modi, who is now serving a record third term. Under his leadership and guided by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, the NDA in Bihar will continue to defeat the opposition, which was disgraced during RJD's rule," Rai said.
However, sources in both RJD and NDA, who spoke on condition of anonymity, were unanimous in the opinion that Prasad had deftly tried to fish in troubled waters.
In the Lok Sabha polls, the BJP fell short of majority and a new government was formed with the help of allies like JD(U), headed by Nitish Kumar, who has been in and out of NDA more than once in the last one decade.
A long-time rival of Prasad, Kumar has recently emphasised his commitment to stability and unity within the BJP-led NDA, which also includes Chirag Paswan, Jitan Ram Manjhi, and Upendra Kushwaha, all of whom have had disagreements with the JD(U) leader.
With inputs from PTI
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