BJP patriarch L.K. Advani’s rath yatra against corruption evoked sharp reactions from Bihar’s Opposition parties on its second day on Wednesday as both RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav and LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan targeted Mr Advani and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar.
Mr Yadav, who had staged a parallel show of strength in Patna at an RJD rally against Bihar’s “corrupt and callous” NDA government a day before, described Mr Advani’s yatra as the BJP leader’s image-shining exercise that must have pained social activist Anna Hazare. Mr Paswan asked chief minister and JD(U) stalwart Nitish Kumar to give details of state government’s expenses on Mr Advani’s yatra and demanded a white paper on corruption in Bihar.
“Advani’s yatra has nothing to do with the fight against corruption. It is an exercise to shine his own image in the race for prime ministership in the BJP,” said Mr Yadav to reporters. “Advani’s yatra yesterday must have caused pain to Anna Hazare, who began a struggle against corruption but Advani is now drawing political mileage out of it,” added Mr Yadav, mentioning that Mr Hazare’s agitation “also had RSS support”.
Mr Paswan censured Mr Advani for beginning his “directionless” yatra from Bihar by ignoring the corruption that he insisted was rampant under the JD(U)-BJP government. “Advani says his yatra is against corruption, but he fails to see corruption in the states ruled by BJP and its allies. He should clarify why he did not begin his yatra from Karnataka or Uttarakhand where the party changed chief ministers for corruption,” Mr Paswan said.
Alleging that the Bihar government misused public funds to make Mr Advani’s yatra a success in Bihar, Mr Paswan asked for details of the government’s expenditure on the yatra’s two days of passage in Bihar. “He (Advani) is not Prime Minister, and he is only a BJP leader. Why did the state government waste public funds on his political exercise?” he asked.