Patna, Apr 20: Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee (BPCC) president Anil Kumar Sharma today accused Rashtriya Janata Dal
(RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav of plotting 1989 Bhagalpur riots and protecting the main conspirers.

"The riots in Bhagalpur were pre-planned. They were organised to spoil the image of the Congress party and to harm its image among minorities. And later it was apparent from the fact that his closeness with main conspirers of the riots proves that Lalu wanted to protect them. It was on his instructions that riots took place," said Sharma.

Reacting to this, Lalu said, " I am not a leader because of Congress."

More than 1,000 people, most of them Muslims, were killed in Bhagalpur district during the month-long rioting, triggered in part by a Hindu procession carrying bricks to build a temple at the site of an ancient mosque in Ayodhya.(ANI)