Lalu Yadav’s daughter and Rashtriya Janta Dal (RJD) leader Misa Bharti stirred controversy after her statement at a public rally on Wednesday in Patna. Ms Bharti said that she “felt like chopping off” RJD loyalist-turned-rebel, Ram Kripal Yadav’s hands after he joined the BJP in 2014. Ram Kripal Yadav is a union minister now in the Narendra Modi-led government.
“He (Ram Kripal Yadav) used to cut chaff. We had huge respect for him. However, we stopped respecting him when he went on to join hands with Sushil Kumar Modi. At that time I felt like cutting his hands with the same chaff cutting machine,” said Ms Bharti, who is once again pitching to fight from Pataliputra Lok Sabha constituency.
Ms Bharti said that she is “confident of her win this time” as she didn’t get enough time to prepare during 2014 polls.
Ram Kripal Yadav, once a close aide of RJD supremo Lalu Yadav, quit the party in 2014 saying, “Narendra Modi is the man India is look up to”. The BJP gave the new joinee a ticket from Pataliputra against Ms Bharti, who lost the elections.
After winning in 2014, Ram Kripal Yadav had said that he had been an earnest worker of the RJD but felt betrayed after he was denied a ticket by the party in 2014.