The meeting between RJD chief lalu Prasad’s brother-in-law Sadhu Yadav and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi is not just one instance when both leaders shared some refreshing moments but they have been regularly in touch by calling each other on several occasions in the past.
Sadhu Yadav told The Pioneer over phone from Gandhinagar that one should not attach much significance to his meeting with Modi as it was not more than a courtesy call, accepting that his relationship with Modi is not new.
“When you visit a State and the Chief Minister of that particular State invites you for tea, you will not decline the offer,” he reasoned.
When asked whether he will join the BJP in the future, a speculation gaining ground in view of his meeting with Modi, Yadav who left the RJD before the 2009 lok Sabha elections to join the Congress said that nobody can predict anything in the politics.
Sadhu had unsuccessfully contested the 2009 Parliamentary election from Bettiah.
He also admitted that he has a good number of friends among Gujarat-based industrialists and he visited the State to attend a private function of one such friend.
Already facing one of the toughest battles of his political career in view of the likelihood of a Special CBI court sentencing him to jail in connection with the multi-crore fodder scam case, lalu Prasad must have received a rude shock when Yadav had met the Gujarat Chief Minister in Gandhinagar.
Contrary to the expectation, the State Congress does not find anything wrong if Yadav had really met Modi and instead a senior Congress leader insisted that the party will be happy if people like Sadhu Yadav leave the Congress and join hands with Narendra Modi.
Chief of the State Congress media cell, Prem Chandra Mishra said that Yadav is presently not even a primary member of the Congress as his membership was not renewed last year. He also asked the BJP why it is trying to come closer to Yadav when the party used to attack the Congress severely when his party gave him tickets in both the 2009 lok Sabha election and 2010 State Assembly election.
When queried why Sadhu Yadav was inducted into the party when he has become such an “unwanted” person in the Congress now, Mishra said that this question should be asked from the then State Congress president who inducted Yadav.
Mishra said that the party has, however, taken exception to senior Congress leader Dasai Choudhary meeting Modi.
Since Choudhary holds an important position in the party, the party has asked him to clarify his position on his meeting with Modi in Gandhinagar.
Choudhary told The Pioneer that he was only accompanying Yadav when the latter called on Modi in Gandhinagar.
After their meeting with Narendra Modi, both Congress leaders left for Dwaraka.
Interestingly, Modi also inquired about lalu Prasad during his meeting with Sadhu Yadav and Dasai Choudhary.
Commenting on the meeting, BJP general secretary Rajiv Pratap Rudy said, “People from Kashmir to Kanyakumari want to meet Modi. And I think the entire nation is today waiting for Narendra Modi,” he said.
However, the Bihar BJP has said there was no question of admitting Sadhu Yadav in the party. Hours after Yadav met the Gujarat CM in Gandhinagar, senior BJP leader from Bihar Sushil Modi tweeted in Patna: “Meeting of Sadhu Yadav with Narendra Modi was just a courtesy call. No question of taking in BJP.”
Modi also advised the Gujarat Chief Minister to consult Bihar State unit before meeting any non-BJP leaders from the State.
‘It was a courtesy call’
Gandhinagar: RJD chief lalu Prasad’s brother-in-law Sadhu Yadav met Narendra Modi at his newly-constructed office. Though Yadav said that he paid a courtesy visit to the Gujarat Chief Minister, but in current political scenario the meeting has adequate significance. After leaving the RJD, Anirudh Prasad (Sadhu Yadav) joined the Congress and fought lok Sabha election in 2009, but lost from Bettiah constituency.
Sources in the Gujarat Chief Minister’s office said that the meeting lasted for nearly 50 minutes. The meeting was also attended by another Bihar Congress leader Desai Choudhary.
“I was in Gujarat to attend a social function hosted by my friend Vijay Yadav. It was purely a courtesy visit,” reiterated Yadav when mediapersons asked him.
Responding to a query on his brother-in-law lalu Prasad, he said that Modi asked about him also.