Elections 2019: Nitish Kumar broke up with Lalu Yadav's party in 2017 and allied with the BJP. (File)
Jailed Bihar politician Lalu Yadav has written to his former ally and the state's Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, pointing out reasons why, according to him, his party's symbol is better than that of Mr Kumar's Janata Dal (United).
Lalu Yadav said that Mr Kumar's party symbol ''arrow'' marks violence while the Rashtriya Janata Dal symbol "lantern" lights up people's lives. The letter from hospital, where the RJD chief is being treated, comes days after Mr Kumar took a dig at Lalu Yadav's party symbol.
"Listen, my younger brother Nitish" is how Lalu Yadav began his letter.
"It seems that you have started strongly disliking 'light'. You do not know that ''lalten (lantern)' is a symbol of light. It is a symbol of love and brotherhood. It is a tool to remove darkness from the lives of the poor," Yadav wrote from hospital.
"But your arrow is a weapon of violence. It is a synonym and symbol of violence," he said, hitting out at Bihar's ruling party.
Lalu Yadav said his party has the removed the "darkness of hatred, oppression and injustice" with the help of their lantern. He also accused his old ally of having an "old habit of getting scared and taking a short cut".
Lalu Yadav was convicted of corruption in 2017 and is undergoing treatment at a government hospital in Ranchi.
Mr Kumar and Lalu Yadav fought the 2015 Bihar state election assembly together and won.
But in 2017, Mr Kumar switched sides to partner the BJP over corruption allegations against Lalu Yadav's younger son and heir-apparent Tejashwi Yadav who was Deputy Chief Minister in his cabinet.
"You have back-stabbed 11 crore poor people with arrows. You may shoot or hide your arrow in the mud flower (BJP's lotus symbol). It is your wish. With missiles being there, the time of the arrow is over. Now the arrow is just a museum piece."
The RJD and the Congress are contesting the national election in an alliance against the JD(U) and the BJP.
Bihar is voting in all seven phases of the polls that began on April 11 and will end May 19. The votes will be counted on May 23.