The Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday attacked the opposition’s vice president candidate B. Sudeshan Reddy for meeting RJD leader Lalu Prasad Yadav—a convict in the fodder scam.
“What kind of a Retired Judge of the Supreme Court are you that you are meeting someone who is convicted of a scam?,” BJP MP Ravi Shankar Prasad asked.
The ruling party’s tirade against Reddy came a day before the vice president elections where the former judge has been pitted by the INDIA bloc against NDA nominee C.P. Radhakrishnan.
Radhakrishnan’s win is a foregone conclusion as the NDA enjoys a comfortable majority in the electoral college which comprises member of both houses of parliament.
Prasad noted that Lalu Prasad is not even a voter, as he is not a member of parliament. He further alleged that the former Bihar CM has not only been convicted in the fodder scam but has also been chargesheeted in the “land for job” scam.
Condemning the meeting, Prasad urged Reddy not to speak about saving the soul of the nation.
"It is hypocrisy in extreme, and we condemn it outright. It is worthy of condemnation," he said.
Earlier, BJP leader Amit Malviya termed Reddy’s meeting with Lalu Prasad as "a shocking statement on probity in public life by someone aspiring for a high constitutional office".
"What's even more telling is the silence of the 'usual suspects' -- retired judges and self-proclaimed custodians of constitutional morality. Their hypocrisy stands exposed," Malviya said.
Election to the second-highest constitutional post was necessitated by the sudden resignation of former vice president Jagdeep Dhankhar, who put in his paper on the first day of the monsoon session of parliament on July 21.