PATNA: Senior Congress leader Meira Kumar on Monday slammed RJD president Lalu Prasad for allegedly making a derogatory comment on party leader Bhakta Charan Das, claiming that it has hurt the self-respect of the entire Dalit community.

Prasad on Sunday mocked Das, a Dalit leader and the Congress' in-charge of Bihar, who has been targeting the RJD after the Prasad-led party fielded candidates for two by-polls in the state without consulting the Congress, an alliance partner.

"A respected leader has used objectionable language against Bihar Congress in-charge Bhakta Charan Das, hurting self-respect of the Dalit community of Bihar and the country. It (the language) qualifies as an offence under the SC/ST Act," Kumar, a former Lok Sabha Speaker and a Dalit herself, said at Patna airport.

Such comments against the Congress leader have exposed the mindset of the RJD, she claimed.

Kumar arrived in Patna to campaign for Congress candidates in Tarapur and Kusheshwar Asthan assembly seats where by-elections will be held on October 30.

By-polls to the two seats have been necessitated by deaths of the respective MLAs, both belonging to the JD(U) of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Prasad's arch-rival.

Prasad on Sunday questioned the Congress' usefulness as an ally and wondered if his party should have left an assembly bypoll seat in the state for the national party so that it could lose even its deposit.

The RJD has the largest number of MLAs in the 243-strong assembly and it has been claiming that it will wrest the two seats from the ruling NDA and trigger a “khela” (upheaval) in the state's politics.

Prasad, who returned to Patna after three years on Sunday, is expected to campaign for RJD candidates in the two seats.

He was last seen here in September 2018, after which he returned to Ranchi to serve his sentences upon expiry of the period of his bail, granted to attend elder son Tej Pratap's wedding and extended a number of times to help him avail medical treatment.