"Abhi to main jawan hun" (I am still young), said Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad, as he celebrated his 65th birthday on Monday during which he also took a jibe at arch rival and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
"My body may have become old, but my mind and soul remain young", Prasad said at his former chief minister wife Rabri Devi's official residence where he cut a 65 pound cake in the shape of his party symbol lantern.
The former Union railway minister and Bihar chief minister, who does not know his actual date of birth, relies on the one given in his educational documents to celebrate the occasion.
"Old age has not caught up with me and I am in a position to make my rivals retire", said an irrepressible Lalu, who often uses rustic wit and humour to send a message across.
On the chief minister dubbing him 'NRB' (Non-Resident Bihari), Prasad referred to Kumar's seva yatra saying that he, too, had arrived after a long haul staying away from the state capital.
Asserting that the rival JD-U leader's 'tall' claims had overtaken the promises of US President Barrack Obama, Prasad said he would not demand sacking of the state government as the people would do so themselves.
Directing a jibe at Kumar over his relations with Narendra Modi, Prasad said that with the RSS projecting the Gujarat chief minister as the BJP's prime ministerial candidate for the 2014 parliamentary polls, he should declare who would be the leader of the National Democratic Alliance.
The chief minister wished Prasad a happy, healthy and long life.
Kumar said that since Prasad was the birthday boy he would not make any comment that would spoil the occasion.
Rabri Devi offered the first slice of the cake to her husband, who in turn gave her another piece amidst festivities with party leaders and workers turning up to greet their leader and to feast.
Among the well wishers were state RJD president Ramchandra Purve and national general secretary and MP Ram Kripal Yadav.
The RJD chief goes by June 11, 1948 as his date of birth according to his educational documents.
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