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Lalu-Shahabuddin tape to dampen opposition unity dreams

Lalu Nitish [File] Nitish is under pressure to take action against Lalu over latter's alleged contacts with Shahabuddin | PTI

The opposition parties trying to cobble up unity among disparate parties for the presidential elections may find it slightly difficult. RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav, who has been pushing for such unity and has been maintaining a strong anti-BJP stance, found himself in an unsavoury controversy.

Lalu was caught on tape allegedly talking to jailed gangster Mohammad Shahabuddin. Soon after a TV channel aired the alleged conversation on Saturday, the BJP demanded action against him and even asked Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to break his silence. Nitish's JDU is in alliance with RJD.

Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said it was a case of criminal-politician nexus.

“Are you going to launch criminal proceedings against your ally Lalu Prasad?” Ravi Shankar Prasad asked Nitish Kumar. 

Addressing a press conference at the BJP headquarters, Prasad rubbed it in, as he questioned opposition unity. “I want to ask the secular brigade which is working overtime to form an alternative. I will ask Sonia (Gandhi) and Rahul Gandhi, Sharad Yadav and Sitaram Yechury if they will compromise with such heinous crimes to expand their secular umbrella,” Prasad said. 

The Bihar BJP unit even demanded Nitish Kumar's resignation.

The non-BJP parties are trying to bring unity among themselves, and as a first step, they wanted to field a candidate against the official candidate of ruling BJP in the upcoming elections to the President's post.

The purported conversation has Shahabuddin asking Lalu to take action against the police SP. As Shahabuddin was lodged at Siwan jail when the conversation took place, it makes it even more questionable that how he got hold of a cell phone in prison.

The Supreme Court had last month ordered Shahabuddin to be transfered to Tihar jail in Delhi after families of the victims approached court.

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