File photo of Bihar leader Lalu Prasad.
Bihar leader Lalu Prasad today claimed he will halt BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi much in the way he had had stopped the "rath yatra" of LK Advani in Bihar in 1990. He has been advised by the BJP to "stop daydreaming."
Without naming the two BJP leaders Mr Prasad tweeted, "Pehle guru ko roka tha, ab chele ka number hai. (Earlier I had stopped the teacher, now it is the turn of his disciple)." Before differences cropped up between the two, Mr Advani was seen as Mr Modi's mentor.
Rushing to campaign in the state, BJP leader Syed Shahnawaz Hussain stopped long enough at the Patna airport to say, "For stopping Modi, Prasad will first have to stop the BJP in Saran constituency from where his wife Rabri Devi is contesting. Our candidate Rajiv Pratap Rudy is winning from there, so how will he stop Modi in the country?"
Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) president and BJP ally Ram Vilas Paswan too rubbished Mr Prasad's tweet, saying he would first "have to become something then only he will be able to check Modi. During Advani's rath-yatra, Prasad was the chief minister. Today he is nothing."
In 1990, Mr Advani launched his Rath Yatra from Somnath in Gujarat after his party had withdrawn its support to the VP Singh government. His yatra was stopped at Samastipur in north Bihar on the orders of Mr Yadav, who was then the chief minister of the state.