Patna, Jul 5 (PTI) RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav on Saturday vowed to "confront" the ruling NDA in Bihar, alleging a "conspiracy" to deprive the poor of their right to vote in the upcoming Assembly elections.

The young leader was addressing the national council meeting of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), which marked the party's 28th foundation day.

The meeting also formally re-elected his father, Lalu Prasad, as national president.

"Lalu ji has always said that the right to vote implies that the weak shall be empowered. But there is a conspiracy against the right to vote", said the former deputy chief minister, in an obvious reference to the special intensive revision of electoral rolls ordered by the Election Commission.

He added, "All party workers must be alert and foil any attempts at wrongful deletion or addition of names in the voters' list. We all must also confront the government with full force on July 9 when a nationwide strike has been called by trade unions affiliated to our Left allies. In Bihar, we have added voters' list revision to the issues on which chakka jam will be staged".

Yadav, who is currently the leader of the opposition in the state Assembly, fulminated at the RJD being blamed for "jungle raj" while in power and pointed out incidents like the murder of top industrialist Gopal Khemka on Friday night to assert that law and order was bad under NDA as well.

He said, "Even Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who keeps coming to Bihar every now and then, has little to offer at his rallies except abuses hurled at our party. His rallies are not organised by the BJP, but happen to be government events. So, taxpayers' money is squandered on his diatribe against Lalu ji and RJD".

Yadav also vented spleen against what he perceived as a biased media coverage, claiming "while we were in power, even minor incidents were displayed on front pages of newspapers. Today, even major crimes are not reported that way".

He also said, "Recently, we had approached a newspaper for a paid advertisement of our party. Things have come to such a passe that they refused to get it published unless we agreed to drop the word 'Sanghi' and other references to RSS".

Training his guns at Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who heads the JD(U), the RJD leader said, "I am worried about his mental health, having known him since childhood. He may be feeling happy to have got rid of the bad press that he had to contend with while he had an alliance with us".

"But, the BJP has bared its fangs. Union Home Minister Amit Shah has said that Nitish Kumar will be Chief Minister till elections and time would decide who shall be next. The import of the cryptic statement is lost on none", added Yadav.

Yadav, who is INDIA bloc's de facto chief ministerial candidate in Bihar, urged RJD workers to "give me three to four months of your hard work. I shall pay back with interest. Until then, give up bickering, follow the instructions of the leadership, tell the people of our promises and spend time among the masses, instead of trying to worm your way through sycophancy". PTI NAC MNB