When Lalu played guardian angel

Lucknow: Former Bihar chief minister and RJD chief Lalu Parasad Yadav played the role of guardian angel for the warring factions of the Yadav clan, in his own inimitable style.
In a dramatic sequence of events as Akhilesh and Shivpal stood on the stage together holding swords in their hands - which were presented to them by minister Gayatri Prajapati as mementoes -- Lalu stood between them and raised their hands.He then asked Akhilesh to touch his uncle’s feet to seek blessing. As Akhilesh bowed to touch Shivpal’s feet, Lalu pulled Shivpal’s hand to touch Akhilesh’s head for “ashirwad” , giving the shutter bugs the picture of the day.
Lalu’s gesture came as a relief in the five-hour long event which was otherwise loaded with speeches from various senior leaders dwelling at length on serious social issues and the prevailing political scenario in the country. This was not all.
Lalu started his speech dismissing reports of any groupism within the SP. He said when media asked for his comments on the infighting within the SP he would say that outside the family don’t have the guts to challenge them, so they fight among themselves for the heck of it. In the middle of his speech he called Akhilesh to the lectern for a piece of advice, saying youngsters should respect their elders and the latter in turn should guide the young turks while he referred to Shivpal as “Shivpal Babu”.
That was not all. Towards the end, he called Akhilesh, saying: “Sab theek hai. Akhileshji, aap rath lekar age badhiye.” (All’s well. Go ahead with your rath)