Lalu compares son with Rahul

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RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav on Sunday likened his son Tejaswi with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, saying people will flock to see Tejaswi like they come to see the Nehru-Gandhi family’s scion.
Three days after almost launching his 20-year-old cricketer son into politics and facing biting criticism from his political opponents, Mr Yadav clarified that Tejaswi, the younger of his two sons, would only campaign for the RJD. “He will not contest the polls before his marriage. His marriage is more than five years away. He will now campaign and people will flock to see him, saying Lalu’s son has come, like they come to see Rahul Gandhi. He (Tejaswi) is even much younger than him (Gandhi),” said Mr Yadav.
Yadav’s comparison of his son with Rahul Gandhi after formally presenting him before the media in Patna is viewed in Bihar’s political circles as the RJD chief’s strategy to deflect and minimise the impact of the AICC general secretary’s likely campaign invectives on the RJD and its 15-year regime in the state. Mr Gandhi, very popular with Bihar’s youth, had snubbed the former railway minister during his two Bihar tours this year and is expected to heighten his attacks on him as the campaigns for the Assembly polls gain momentum.
Two days after losing the son of RJD MP and his close aide Jagadanand Singh to the BJP, Mr Yadav’s words on Sunday reflected sweet revenge as the son of a ruling JD(U) MP, Mahabali Singh, joined the RJD. An ecstatic Mr Yadav told reporters: “They (NDA) took away Jagadabhai’s son, so we took away Mahabali Singh’s son from them”.
Dharmendra Singh, son of JD(U)’s Karakat MP Mahabali Singh, joined the RJD in presence of Mr Yadav and several senior party leaders. Some Congress leaders from Motihari also joined the RJD. Dharmendra Singh was reportedly unhappy as the JD(U) leadership made it clear to him that he would not get a party ticket to contest the Assembly polls.
Mr Yadav lambasted the Nitish Kumar government, saying, “These people (JD-U and BJP leaders), who came to power in Bihar by mukaddamewaji (use of court cases), were all with us in the early years (of the government led by Yadav)”.
Announcing his plans to desist from reciting any more poetry, Mr Yadav said: “Now reciting poetry is for Nitish Kumar. He could spend his time writing poetry or novels at the Nalanda International University he is opening”.