Lalu calls Nitish bad omen

Desperate to revive his fortunes with the Assembly by-elections, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) president Lalu Prasad has called the Nitish Kumar government jinxed for Bihar. In his election meetings, Lalu has been saying that the state has witnessed natural calamities like floods and drought for two consecutive years because the Nitish government was inauspicious. "Did Bihar witness any such drought or flood during the 15 years of RJD rule?" he asks the crowds at villages where he goes for campaigning.

Stoking up superstitious beliefs of rural people, Lalu even blames the chief minister for the scanty rainfall this monsoon season. Poor rains resulted in drought which, in turn, has caused prices of essential commodities to soar.

And, according to Lalu, this is all because Nitish committed the sin of eating biscuits during the total solar eclipse at Taregna near Patna on July 22. "He kept on munching biscuits during the solar eclipse. This made Lord Indra (the rain God) angry, leaving the state to face one of the worst droughts," Lalu told the crowd at Waris Nagar in Samastipur earlier this week. In his attempt to regain foothold among the electorate, Lalu links Nitish's "inauspicious" act with spiraling prices. "Dal (pulses) has disappeared from the plates of the poor. Aloo (potato) is being sold at Rs 16 a kg. Was aloo ever so costly during the days of Lalu?" he asked the people at one place.

But Lalu's reasoning seems to have fallen flat. Laughing off his jibes, Janata Dal-United (JD-U) leaders say Bihar has been experiencing enough rains ever since the RJD chief started blaming Nitish for the drought.

"He has lost his support on the ground. It seems nobody likes him even up there," said a senior JD-U leader, pointing skywards.

Nitish has taken Lalu head-on in the rough and tumble of electioneering. He counters Lalu's attempts to stoke up superstitious fears with logic.

"My elder brother (Lalu) has been claiming that Bihar is facing drought because I ate biscuits during the solar eclipse. But then, why are other states like Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh facing drought? The CMs of those states didn't have any biscuits during the eclipse?" he asks voters.

Nitish says Lalu has been "uttering irresponsible things" because he has lost the trust of people. The CM claims he is seeking votes in the name of development alone.

Bypolls are being held for 18 constituencies in Bihar in two phases on September 10 and September 15. The counting of votes will take place on September 17.

The bypolls were necessitated because of the resignation of MLAs, who either changed party or were elected to the Lok Sabha.

The bypolls are a litmus test for Lalu, who has tied up with Ram Vilas Paswan's Lok Janshakti Party again after the Lok Sabha polls. He, however, failed to stitch up a pre-poll alliance with the Congress despite his best efforts.

The Congress has fielded candidates on all the 18 seats, making Lalu's task more daunting. A multi-cornered contest may help the JD-U. Perhaps that's why Lalu is desperate to discredit the CM.link

Lalu's place is in jail: Rajiv Ranjan

A senior leader of Bihar's ruling Janata Dal-United (JD-U) on Sunday said that Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad would be in jail for his involvement in the multi-million rupee fodder scam if the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) came to power at the centre.

"Lalu ka satta sukh ab khatam ho gaya hai, Lalu ko ab jail sukh bhogna hoga (The days of Lalu enjoying power are over, Lalu should now be ready to face the hard reality of jail)," Rajeev Ranjan alias Lalan Singh said at a election rally in Munger from where he is contesting the poll.

Known as a severe critic of Lalu Prasad, Singh said a fresh probe would be ordered into the RJD's chief involvement in the fodder scam if the NDA comes to power. He alleged that the RJD chief had managed to suppress the cases against him in the fodder scam with the help of the Congress.

Singh, a close confidant of chief minister Nitish Kumar, said Lalu Prasad would now be ousted from the centre in the same way he was ousted from Bihar in 2005.link

Three killed, 24 injured during Holi in Bihar

Holi celebrations in Bihar turned bloody today as three persons were killed and 24 others injured in separate incidents.

Govind Yadav (40) and Narayan Yadav (45), two brothers, were shot dead and six others injured when people from two castes clashed over mud-throwing at Asahni village in Chhapra district, police said.

In another incident, a child received gunshot injuries and 18 others were injured in a clash following a quarrel over Holi celebrations at Rivilganj bazaar.

A youth was shot dead by three gunmen after he resisted uprooting of plants from his land for 'holika dahan' (a ritual symbolic of destruction of evil) at a village in Nawada district last night.

While Holi was celebrated in the rest of Bihar peacefully, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his bete noire RJD supremo Lalu Prasad refrained from celebrating the festival to empathise with the victims of Kosi floods and Mumbai terror strike.link

Lalu to gift a railway division to his home district

Railways Minister Lalu Prasad is set to gift his home district, Gopalganj in Bihar, a railway division before the next Lok Sabha polls.After Lalu Prasad’s ancestral village Phulwaria is connected with his wife and former chief minister Rabri Devi’s Salar Kalan village, Lalu now plans to give another rare gift to Bihar by announcing the establishment of a railway division in Thawe at Gopalganj.

“Thawe would have a new railway division,” Lalu said Saturday. He was on a visit to his native village Phulwaria and hinted that he would announce the establishment of the division in his last railway budget to be presented later in February.

According to railway officials, Lalu asked senior officials to prepare necessary ground for creation of a new railway division at Thawe in Gopalganj.

Thawe has a railway station at present and is not far from Lalu’s birth place Phulwaria and his wife’s birthplace Salar Kalan.

Thawe railway division will be part of the East Central Railway zone headquarters at Hajipur in Bihar.

Lalu also announced establishing of a new railway division in Bhagalpur. “Both Thawe and Bhagalpur would be headed by divisional railway managers.”

During his five year term as a Railways Minister, Lalu has gifted several projects and dozens of new trains to Bihar. He recently said that the Indian Railways are investing Rs.550 billion (Rs.55,000 crore) in Bihar for execution of various railway projects to usher “a new era of development”. link

Paswan makes unilateral announcemnt on Bihar candidates

In what could be considered as a jolt to the Congress-led UPA, Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) chief Ram Vilas Paswan on Monday announced candidates for 50% of the total Lok Sabha seats in Bihar.

Paswan announced candidates for 20 of the 40 LS seats in Bihar that include Araria, Purnea, Supaul, Khagaria, Hajipur, Jehanabad, Begusarai, Sheohar, Muzaffarpur, Samastipur, Ujiyarpur, Bettiah, Bagha, Motihari, Nawada, Gaya, Ara and Patliputra.

Though Paswan's announcement ahead of any seat sharing talks within the UPA allies in Bihar is seen as his bargaining tactic with the Congress to corner prized seats, the move could also be interpreted as his open defiance on accommodating RJD, much like the last time in 2005.

Speaking to a news agency in the Capital on Monday, Paswan said: "Party leaders in the state are in favour of contesting the elections alone." He added that no concrete proposal for seat sharing had, however, come to his party from either the Congress or the RJD.

Putting the RJD on the same pedestal as the ruling NDA in Bihar, a party leader was quoted as saying, "People have already seen RJD's Lalu Prasad and JD(U)'s Nitish Kumar and are now looking for a change."

Hinting at the fact that he may prefer to go it alone at the hustings, Paswan said, "The RJD's mass base among Muslims and Yadavs has eroded." link