BJP Slams Opposition’s V-P Nominee for Meeting with RJD Chief Lalu Yadav

New Delhi – The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday sharply criticised the Opposition’s Vice-Presidential candidate, Justice B. Sudershan Reddy (Retd.), over his recent meeting with RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav, convicted in the multi-crore fodder scam.

At a press conference, BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad questioned the former Supreme Court judge’s calls for conscience and probity in public life while associating with a convicted leader. “Lalu Yadav has been convicted in multiple scams, including the ‘railway jobs-for-land’ case and wrongful railway property sales. Several charge sheets against him are still pending trial. By meeting him, what message does Mr. Reddy intend to send?” he asked.

Calling the meeting “hypocrisy in extreme,” Prasad said Justice Reddy’s actions undermine the moral high ground he claims. “His meeting with a fodder scam convict deserves condemnation, and we condemn it in the strongest terms,” he said.

He also criticised retired judges who had earlier backed Justice Reddy during the controversy over the ‘Salwa Judum’ judgment, questioning their silence now as he seeks the second-highest constitutional office while meeting a convicted political figure.

Earlier in the day, BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya also attacked Reddy’s meeting with Lalu Yadav, posting pictures on X and calling it “utter hypocrisy.” He pointed out that Lalu, not being a Member of Parliament, has no vote in the Vice-Presidential election.

“This isn’t just terrible optics, it’s a shocking statement on probity in public life by someone aspiring for a high constitutional office. The silence of the ‘usual suspects’—retired judges and self-proclaimed custodians of constitutional morality—only exposes their hypocrisy,” Malviya wrote.

The Vice-Presidential election is scheduled for Tuesday, with the odds stacked in favour of the BJP’s candidate, CP Radhakrishnan.

With inputs from IANS