Patna, Jan. 17: More than 2,000 party workers celebrated with gusto as Lalu Prasad was officially re-elected as the RJD's national president for the ninth consecutive term at the party's national council meet-cum-open session at SK Memorial hall here on Sunday.

Lalu's car was showered with rose petals at nine places en route the venue of the meeting from his 10 Circular Road residence. His wife, Rabri Devi, and ministers sons Tej Pratap and Tejaswi accompanied him in the car.

The RJD's national election officer, Jagdanand Singh, formally declared Lalu as the party chief and handed him the certificate for the post. Party leaders from Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Nagaland, Assam, Manipur and Maharashtra were also present. Some leaders from Bengal and Assam tried to speak in Hindi to strike a chord with the audience but Lalu told them to stick to the language they were comfortable with. The party workers clapped whenever a leader spoke, regardless of language.

Lalu was also projected as the party's leader to draw "likeminded" parties across the nation to fight the BJP.

Tejaswi addressed the audience - even though senior leaders like Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, Prabunath Singh, Mohammad Ali Asraf Fatmi, Mohammad Taslimuddin, Kanti Singh and Jai Prakash were present at the event - in what seemed Lalu's attempt to project his younger son as his successor. Tej Pratap, who was also present on the dias, did not speak either.

Tejaswi launched scathing attacks on the BJP and said he was proud to be Lalu and Rabri's son.

"BJP leaders are trying to defame the state when the government under the leadership of Nitish ji is busy working for development," the deputy chief minister said. "They call us jungle raj. If so, what about the terrorist attack on Pathankot airbase? Shall we call it aatank (terror)raj? It is for this attitude that they received a fitting reply in the Assembly elections."

When Tejaswi started speaking, Tej Pratap left the stage and returned after the younger brother had finished.

In her speech, Rabri Devi said: "We all congratulate you (Lalu). My seven daughters and two sons congratulate you. And I being your wife also congratulate you for being elected as the national president of the party."

She held the BJP responsible for the criminal incidents in the state.

She also took a jibe at the RSS and said, "They (read BJP) call us tel pilawan, lathi ghumawan party (party that greases palms and wields the stick) but what about these RSS pracharaks? They roam in half-pants with a stick in their hand. It does not look nice when elderly people walk around wearing half-pants."

Lalu, who spoke last, lauded Tej Pratap.

"My son is doing a very good job. His department is conducting raids on all the medicine shops which sell fake drugs," he said.

He also said Nitish will rule the state for the next 20 years and accused the BJP o0f spreading rumours of bitterness between him and the chief minister.

Lalu also justified his recent inspection of Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS) and direction to reinstate the Mamta workers in Darbhanga, incidents that had the Opposition alleging that he was acting as an extra-constitutional power centre.

"It is our government and I have every right to think about the people," Lalu said. "These BJP leaders were challenging my authority and were questioning in what capacity did I inspect IGIMS. I want to ask them in what capacity does the RSS review the functioning of the Narendra Modi government? The BJP leaders are trying to demoralise our government."

He also said that he will launch a nationwide campaign from Varanasi against the Narendra Modi government, but didn't specify when.