Much as they tried, leaders of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) yesterday could not conceal their laughter when working president Ranjan Prasad Yadav declared that the RJD was the real Janata Dal, and it was only a matter of time before the leaders who have been left behind in the Janata Dal would join their party.
The occasion was the opening of the Rashtriya Janata Dals central office in the Capital. Considerable mirth was generated in the presence of the three RJD Union ministers amidst shouting slogans in support of president Laloo Prasad Yadav.
The office is located in the residence of Mohammad Taslimuddin, an Rashtriya Janata Dal MP who was dropped by former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda as Union minister of state for home due to charges against him back home in Bihar.
The incongruity of the statements made was enough for the mock seriousness among those present to crack. Ranjan Yadav congratulated Rashtriya Janata Dal workers who, he claimed, had come from all over the country to attend the function.
He also announced that the Rashtriya Janata Dal would sent observers to all states between August 16 and 31 to take Laloo Yadavs pro-poor message to every nook and corner of the country.
It is only a matter of time before all those who have been left behind in the Janata Dal would join us. I have spoken to many, and am sure that our party will be strengthened by their induction. This is the real Janata Dal, Yadav claimed.
Do those expected to join the Rashtriya Janata Dal include Janata Dal chief Sharad Yadav and Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral?
I will not mention any name, since it would affect the ongoing talks, Yadav said, and broke into laughter.
He, however, appealed to newsmen not to ask such questions since they would take precedence over the the fact that the Rashtriya Janata Dal had opened its office.
He promised to hold a daily press briefing from today, when he would be only too glad to answer all the newsmens queries.
Yadav, however, made it clear that the party office was only opened yesterday, and that it would be formally inaugurated by Laloo Yadav at a later date.
