PATNA: RJD President Lalu Prasad today rubbished speculation that he would play spoilsport to Nitish Kumar if his party won more seats than JD(U) and said he had already made a public commitment to make him the chief minister.
"It is my public commitment that Nitish Kumar will be the chief minister if the secular alliance wins, so where is the question of who wins more seats," Prasad said addressing a function of a private TV here. "I have already applied tilak on the forehead of Nitish Kumar," he said and used a popular hindi song "pyar kiya hai to darna kya..." to drive home his point. Asked about media reports that his two sons - Tej Pratap and Tejaswi Yadav - who are contesting the Assembly poll would be made ministers in the future cabinet, Prasad did not reply directly.
The RJD chief was also evasive on the question if he would remote control the future government of Nitish Kumar. "It is not the question of running government by remote control. This election is a question of the entire country...how can I allow the country to break?" Prasad said in reply to question in this regard. With the BJP reminding people of Prasad's past famous comment on Kumar that he has teeth in his stomach (meaning cunningness), the RJD chief said in a lighter vein, "Now I have checked with a barometer and all 32 teeth of Nitish Kumar are in his jaw."
The RJD chief also dismissed possibility of any erosion in his support base among Muslims and Yadavs despite efforts made by the BJP. "Yaduvanshis are not fool that anybody can lure them away. They know who their benefactor is and will never desert me," Prasad said.
He also pooh poohed any challenge to Muslim votes in view of AIMIM of Hyderabad MP Asauddin Owaisi deciding to contest in the Muslim-dominated four districts of Seemanchal. Asked that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was posing a challenge to him in Bihar poll, Prasad said in a humorous way, "He is junior to me as I am 70 years old and he is 65. I came in politics in the the 90s and he came later."
"But, there is no doubt that he has done a PHD in making speeches." Prasad described himself as "Naxalite". "But, I am a
Naxalite not of violence but of non-violence," he said. The RJD chief said that the BJP was using "jungle raj-2" slogan to drive forward castes away from him.
"I wish to assure my forward castes brothers that I do not believe in 'patka-patki' (wrestling). I have always worked for empowerment of poor and deprived even those hailing from forward castes," he said.