Lalu Prasad takes dig at Modi govt over demonetization, employment issues

Jailed RJD chief Lalu Prasad on Thursday charged Narendra Modi government with having inconvenienced public through "notebandi" (demonetization), "rozgarbandi" (no jobs) and "sochbandi" (depriving freedom of thought) for which people would teach him a lesson through "votebandi" (no vote). Prasad made a blistering attack at Modi through a tweet message.

The former Bihar Chief Minister, who is in Ranchi serving sentences in a number of fodder scam cases, is quite active on the social media and his official twitter handle is operated by people close to him. He did not just bring notebandi but also rozgarbandi and sochbandi of the youth. Now the public will teach him a lesson through votebandi, Prasad tweeted in Hindi, without mentioning the Prime Minister by name.

Meanwhile, his party RJD coined a fresh poll slogan, apparently drawing inspiration from the anthem of an IPL team, asserting in Bhojpuri we shall do, we shall fight and we shall win. Kare ke ba, lade ke ba, jeete ke ba, cannily resembling korbo, lorbo jeetbo re the war cry of Kolkata Knight Riders was shared by Prasad's younger son and political heir Tejashwi Yadav, who had previously fancied a career in cricket, on his official twitter handle.

Yadavs also shared a teaser of a video based on the slogan rendered in the form of a song the other stanzas of which are in chaste Hindi and state we have a huge target, a difficult struggle is ahead in the battle against injustice, from every speck of dust shall the sentiment of the masses resonate kare ke ba, lade ke ba, jeete ke ba. The RJD is contesting the Lok Sabha polls, for the first time in its history, without its founding president (Prasad) leading the campaign known for his oratory peppered with a native witticism and earthy humour.

Fighting in alliance with the Congress and a number of smaller, non-descript parties, the RJD faces the onerous task of taking on the mighty NDA which in Bihar comprises, besides the BJP, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's JD(U) and Ram Vilas Paswan's LJP.

(With inputs from agencies.)