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

Army offers help for tackling Naxalism

The Bihar Regimental Centre (BRC) on Friday held a civil-military liaison conference on its campus at Danapur Cantonment.

Chief minister Nitish Kumar and General Officer in Command, Central Command, Lt Gen J K Mohanty discussed various matters related to welfare of Army personnel and general development in Bihar at the meet held after a gap of 11 years.

The Army officials at the meet said that the Army would extend all possible help to Bihar government in tackling Naxalism and natural calamities and added it is ready to raise a separate battalion of territorial Army to maintain an ecological balance across the state. Lt Gen Mohanty said that Army could play an important role in curbing growing menace of ultra forces in the state. He, however, ruled out any possibility of setting up any more Army stations near Bihar-Nepal border now.

Describing this meet as significant, an Army official of Danapur said that the chief minister assured to extend all possible help to the Army in carrying out welfare work for the jawans and ex-servicemen belonging to Bihar Regiment. The state government agreed to allot the required land to the Army to complete its various ambitious projects in the state. The Army was satisfied with the assurance of the state government to transfer land to it for building Sainik schools at Nalanda and Gopalganj. The state government would also help to the Army to build various polyclinics across the state to provide better health care to Army personnel.

The Army also sought enhancement in grant of ex gratia to victims of the counter insurgency operation. The Army demanded a little hike in the monthly salary of special auxiliary police (SAP) from the present Rs 10,000 per month so that they get attracted to serve the state police.

Chief secretary Anup Mukherjee, principal secretary, home, Afzal Amanullah, DGP Anand Shankar, revenue and land reforms commissioner C Ashokvardhan were among the senior state government officials attending the meet. The government assured that the Army could get adequate land at Gaya where an Army station is already located, to carry out its welfare work.

The Army is currently in need of about 10 acres of land to construct houses for jawans under the Centrally-sponsored Army Welfare Housing Organisation (AWHO). Among other issues which came up for discussion included internal security, felicitation of Gallantry Award winners at the Independence Day and Republic Day functions in Bihar and problem caused by the national highway (NH) road passing through the Cantonment area, an Army spokesperson said. link