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

16 sent to jail in fodder scam case

A special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court in the Jharkhand capital Wednesday awarded four to seven years of rigorous imprisonment to 16 convicts in the multi-million rupee fodder scam in Bihar’s animal husbandry department.
Special CBI judge Pankaj Kumar also slapped fines between Rs.50,000 and Rs.500,000 on the convicts in the case regarding fraudulent withdrawal of Rs.110.9 million (Rs.11.09 crore) from the Doranda treasury of Ranchi in the early 1990s.

The CBI court had Tuesday convicted 48 accused for withdrawing the amount by producing fake bills and nine convicts were awarded three-year imprisonment.

Remaining convicts would be sentenced Thursday.

Sixty-one cases were lodged by the CBI in relation to the fodder scam, which surfaced in 1996. Of them, 53 were transferred to Jharkhand after it was carved out of Bihar in November 2000.

According to CBI sources, government officials swindled more than Rs.9.5 billion in the name of fodder with help of fake suppliers and politicians.

Till now, special CBI courts have pronounced their judgements in 30 cases and more than 230 accused have been convicted.

Former railways minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad and former Bihar chief minister Jagannath Mishra were accused in five fodder scam cases.link