Patna, May 28: Lalu Prasad today took a jibe at Bihar deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi for inviting Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Banerjee — who is running the government in Bengal in alliance with the Congress — in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) fold.

“The NDA is on the verge of collapse. The BJP, too, is falling like a house of cards,” the RJD chief said.

“Mamataji is a wise leader. She will never board a sinking boat of communal forces,” he added.

Modi had at a function in Calcutta yesterday said Mamata was always welcome to join the NDA and praised her for “showing guts” in opposing wrong policies of the Centre. “We are ready to welcome Mamata Banerjee in the NDA. We will roll out a red carpet for her,” Modi had said.

Reacting to the Bihar deputy chief minister’s “invite” to Mamata, the RJD boss, on the sidelines of his party’s national executive meet, said: “Sushil has to decide first if he will go with Gujarat chief minister Narenrdra Modi or BJP patriarch L.K. Advani. The BJP is a divide outfit and its leaders are fighting among themselves for supremacy.”

“Sushil Modi,” said Lalu, “should think of his own fate in the BJP rather than inviting veterans from the secular stream who are too smart to fall in his trap.”