Patna, Oct 25 (IANS): While Congress leaders of the Bihar unit sharply reacted on Lalu Prasad's deliberately mispronouncing party in-charge's name, Bhakta Charan Das on Monday said he was a respected senior leader of the country and like an elder brother of him.

"Lalu Prasad can say whatever he wants to about me, but I will always pay my respects to him. I did that in the past and am doing now and will continue to do so in the future also," Das said.

"Lalu Prasad and his party had ruled the state for a long time. He always claimed that he is a leader of the Backward Classes and marginalised people in the society. I want to say why he and his party failed to lift the living standards and strength of these people. The coalition between the Congress and RJD has broken now. Congress party will fight the election on all 40 seats in the next parliamentary elections," Das said.

On Sunday, Lalu Prasad Yadav lashed out at Congress state in-charge Bhakta Charan Das for poor performance in the 2020 Bihar Assembly elections. The RJD had given Congress 70 seats to contest and the latter managed to win only 19 seats.

Lalu also wrongly pronounced the name of Bhakta Charan Das while interacting with media persons in New Delhi.