PATNA / NEW DELHI: Pouring cold water on Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s prime ministerial ambitions, RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav on Thursday hinted that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi might be his choice for the Opposition’s PM pick in 2024. Before leaving for Delhi for his routine health check-up, Lalu told reporters in Patna that the next prime minister of the country should not live in the PM’s official residence without a wife.
“Staying in PM’s residence without a wife is wrong and that should be done away with,” he quipped. His satirical comment was in response to a query that if his recent advice to Rahul ‘to get married’ meant he preferred the Congress leader to be the Opposition’s PM candidate.
In the recent Opposition meeting in Patna, Lalu had praised Rahul’s efforts during the Bharat Jodo Yatra and his parliamentary speeches. While Rahul remains single, Bihar CM Nitish’s wife passed away in 2007. According to sources, a cold war is brewing between Lalu and Nitish with the recent transfer of a senior IAS officer close to the RJD leader being the latest trigger.
After reaching Delhi, Lalu said the BJP’s days in power are limited and that the entire Opposition is united in their mission to protect democracy. Hitting out at the BJP, he said the party is two-faced and ridiculed how Prime Minister Narendra Modi is now welcoming leaders from rival parties such as the NCP in Maharashtra, who were till recently labelled as corrupt by him.