Patna: RJD Chief Lalu Prasad today indicated that it was not keen to join the Nitish Kumar ministry and said his party's priority was to keep the ‘communal' BJP away.
“Nitish Kumar had made an offer to the RJD to join his ministry, but I told him to run the government effectively and our priority is to keep communal BJP and RSS out of power even at the cost of facing abuse over it,” Prasad told PTI.
“People are now saying lot of things about our party joining the government, but there is no substance in them. We have supported the JD (U) government to ensure that communal forces do not rear their head in the state,” he said.
He rubbished speculation about his being “unhappy” with Chief Minister Kumar citing his absence in the swearing-in ceremony as evidence.
“I was busy with the wedding of my daughter and this is why I could not make it to the oath ceremony of Kumar...all reports of me being unhappy with Kumar are wrong,” Prasad said.
The RJD chief arrived here late evening to take part in a protest on March 15 against the Centre against the Centre's policies on black money, land acquisition (amendment), unemployment and inflation.
He said now he was free from the family responsibility and would spend time in Bihar which would witness poll later this year.
“I am here now to help counter BJP in the state. I will continuously remain among the people now and my programmes will continue even after the Raj Bhawan march,” he added.
On outgoing chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi charge that he did not support him in power tussle with Nitish Kumar, Prasad said, “I had no role in Manjhi's removal. I never said he was a bad person. We had supported JD(U) and not any individual. What happened was an internal matter of their party.”
Asked about the merger of Janata Parivar parties, the RJD supremo said, “I was busy with my daughter's marriage. Mulayam Singh Yadav was also busy and then he was taken ill. Nitish Kumar was busy in the political situation here. We will now discuss the road ahead.”
