RJD-JD(U) merger: Prashant Kishor dare to Lalu Prasad Yadav on Rabri Devi's claims

A day after Bihar ex-CM Rabri Devi claimed that poll-strategist-turned-politician Prashant Kishor had approached RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav with an offer to merge both parties and announce Nitish Kumar as the prime ministerial nominee in lieu of Tejashwi Yadav as the chief ministerial candidate, Kishor on Saturday dismissed Devi's claims and dared Lalu to face media to reveal what transpired during their meets.

Devi had said on Friday that Kishor had approached her husband no less than five times and made this offer of merging RJD and JD-U, soon after Nitish's JD-U had walked out of the Mahagathbandhan government in Bihar in 2017 and sided with the BJP. She said he had made the offer of declaring Tejashwi as the CM face for 2020 and Nitish as the PM candidate for 2019.

"Our staff are a witness to his visits and if he denied it, he is lying," she said. Her son Tejashwi also backed her saying Kishor had called on them.

While Kishor, also the national vice president of JD-U, has not denied meeting Lalu, he has termed the claims of merger a false one. "Those convicted or facing charges of abuse of public office and misappropriation of funds are claiming to be the custodians of truth," he said in a tweet on Saturday. Kishor went on to dare Lalu to sit with him before the media and "let everybody know what transpired" between them and who gave what offer to whom.

Devi, however, stood by her claim on Saturday, and said Kishor should go to Ranchi (where Lalu is presently serving sentence in fodder scam cases) and take permission from jail authorities to have a public debate on the matter.

The issue first cropped up last week on announcement of Lalu's autobiography in which he had made these claims of Kishor meeting him for Nitish's return to GA, though Kishor had termed it "bogus."

Amid claims and counter-claims Union minister Ashwini Choubey's remark that Devi was his "bhabhi and should remain in ghoonghat (veil)" kicked off a controversy with Devi stating it was an insult to all womenfolk.