RJD Supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav addressing the election rally at Madhuban,East Champaran District Bihar
With rivals Nitish Kumar and Narendra Modi all set to cross swords at Nawada at separate poll rallies today, RJD President Lalu Prasad described the duo as "bosom friends" fighting in public to "befool" voters.
"Narendra Modi and Nitish Kumar, both are bosom friends. They are working together. They wink at each other while be-fooling the public. People have started understanding this and welcoming them with shoes and sandals," Mr Prasad told reporters.
Continuing in the same vein, Mr Prasad asked the people to desist from throwing shoes at the politicians whom they don't like. (
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"Vote ki chot maro unpar Joota chhapal se abhinandan mat kijiye (strike at them with your votes and not hurl shoes at them)," Mr Prasad said.
He was speaking at the launch of the 'poll rath (chariot)' of RJD for election campaign across the state.
Reminding the way he had stopped the rath yatra of BJP leader Lal Krishna Advani in 1990, Mr Prasad said, "Had I been in power and if Narendra Modi would have taken out a rath yatra, I would have stopped it too."
Taking a dig at his rival, he said Mr Kumar had waved green flag to launch Mr Advani's 'Jan Chetna Yatra' from Sitab Diara, the birthplace of Jay Prakash Narayan on October 11, 2011.
Former BJP MLA from Forbesganj, Lakshmi Narayan Mehta joined RJD in the presence of Mr Prasad.
The RJD President said his party's election manifesto will give priority to the issues of primary teachers, 'anganwadi sevikas', health workers, homeguards and all others who were beaten up for raising their demands.