Lalu Prasad at 10 Circular Road in Patna on Friday. Picture by Deepak Kumar

The RJD chief, Lalu Prasad, on Friday apologised for any misdeeds committed during his earlier 15-year term while coming down heavily on the Nitish Kumar-led NDA government for its failure to check rising incidents of rape, especially against minors.

He said the Nitish government had forfeited the right to remain in power for even a moment. “If any incidents of rape, especially against minors, take place in Delhi, it becomes national news and people start clamouring for justice. But minors get raped quite often in Nitish’s regime. Such ghastly incidents were reported from Bihta a few days ago, but nothing happened,” Prasad told reporters at his 1, Aney Marg house where the Rashtriya Lok Samata Party’s Vilat Paswan and Sudhanshu Shekhar Bhaskar joined the RJD with 30 supporters on Friday.

Lalu said the Nitish government had no right to remain in power for even a moment as he had turned the state into a “police raj” where people including women (teachers) are lathicharged when they protest against the government for their demands. Even Supreme Court had taken cognizance of the barbaric incident in which Nitish Kumar’s cops lathicharged women, he said.

Countering a statement by the Centre in Parliament, Prasad said the Bihar government could not spend even 20 per cent of funds allocated under MNREGA and even the 20 per cent was a fudged figure.

Funds released for welfare of Dalits were not being spent properly, he said, while high schools and colleges faced acute shortage of teachers.

Asked if he would apologise for whatever went wrong in his tenure, he said, “In a democracy, people are supreme. I apologise to people for any misbehaviour and misdeeds committed during 15 years of my (RJD) rule.” Exhorting people to flood Patna on May 15 for his Parivartan Rally, Lalu said, “We’ve resolved to uproot the Nitish government, which would be evident from our rally that would be too big for Gandhi Maidan to accommodate.”