Lalu appeals to non-BJP parties to unite for 2009 polls

RJD leader Lalu Prasad on Wednesday once again appealed to all non-BJP parties or like-minded parties to come together to defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party in the next general elections.

Addressing hundreds of party leaders and workers at a function to mark the 21st foundation day of his Rashtriya Janata Dal party, Lalu said there is an attempt to spread hate in the country by some "vested interests".

Lalu cautioned party leaders that there is an "undeclared Emergency-like situation" in the country.

"BJP had promised lies to the people during the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. The central government has cheated and betrayed people by not fulfilling any promises made to them in the last three years," he said.

"Where is the two crore jobs for the youth annually, where is the MSP for farmers, where is the black money from foreign banks, where is industrialization in backward regions, where is achche din (good days)? The BJP led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has come to power because we are divided," he said, recounting the promises made by the BJP in the run-up to the 2014 polls.

Lalu said there is an attempt to spread hate in the country by some quarters. "In the name of protecting the cow, people have been killed. Farmers have been committing suicide. There is a dangerous situation in the country."

Lalu appealed to all non-BJP parties or like-minded parties to come together to defeat the BJP in the 2009 elections.

"If two former Chief Ministers of Uttar Pradesh Mayawati and Akhilesh Yadav join hands, the BJP will be finished," he declared.

Lalu said the BJP-led central government is targeting Aam Aadmi Party leader and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati, Trinamool Congress supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, and Congress President Sonia Gandhi's daughter Priyanka Gandhi, and also his own family "because if all of them join hands the BJP will be nowhere".

Senior leaders of RJD, including state president Ram Chandra Purve, Bihar Finance Minister Abdul Bari Siddiqui, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister and younger son of Lalu Prasad, Tejashwi Yadav, and Bihar Health Minister Tej Pratap Yadav, Lalu's elder son, attended the party meeting.

--IANS

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