Veteran BJP leader and Lok Sabha member from Patna Sahib, Shatrughan Sinha, on Monday came down heavily against his own party leader Sushil Modi while defending his ‘friend’ Lalu Prasad. The move saw immediate retaliatory action from former Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi who demanded that the ‘Shatru’ (enemy) of BJP should be kicked out of the party immediately.
Asking Sushil Modi to refrain from indulging in “negative politics”, the four-term MP Shatrughan (he was twice Rajya Sabha member too) tweeted: “Time to substantiate your claims... or pack up! Can’t just keep feeding media with one night stories & sensationalising. Enough is enough.”
Shatrughan, who enjoys far more cordial relations with leaders like Lalu and Nitish Kumar than other BJP colleagues, was reportedly miffed with Modi’s series of charges against the RJD chief and his family. Expressing shock over the media reports of Income Tax raids at 22 places of Lalu and his aides, he hoped that there should be follow-up reports as to what has been unearthed so far.
“Our BJP surely believes in honesty & transparency, which seldom go together, but must go together. An allegation is ONLY THAT unless proved!,” said Shatru’s another tweet in support of Lalu.
Shatru, who served as a Cabinet Minister in Vajpayee regime and won the 2014 Lok Sabha polls with highest victory margin in Bihar, was denied ministerial berth in Narendra Modi Government apparently due to his closeness with LK Advani. On Monday, he had a word of caution for the junior Modi (Sushil) through another tweet: “Enough of negative politics and mudslinging by opponents....”
Pained over series of attack from the ‘enemy within’, Sushil Modi paid back Shatru in his own coin. “When allies like Nitish has refrained from defending Lalu, the BJP’s ‘Shatru’ has jumped in to defend the RJD chief in dubious land deals. Such ‘traitors’ should be shown the door,” tweeted Modi in Hindi.
The ‘tweeter war’ on Monday refused to die down when Lalu’s younger son and Bihar’s Deputy Chief Minister Tejaswi Yadav too joined to fire fresh salvo against Modi. “An allegation remains an allegation till one is proved guilty. The BJP leader suffers from selective amnesia and colour blindness,” Tejaswi tweeted slamming Modi. He also assailed the BJP leader for calling Shatrughan as “BJP’s shatru”.
Published 22 May 2017, 10:12 IST