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Patna,(BiharTimes): Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav is trying his level best to gather his old aggressiveness. A couple of days back this was reflected by him after his return to Patna from his tour to Mithilanchal belt. He sounded somewhat upbeat by the good turnout of the crowd in the places he visited and launched a blistering attack on chief minister NItish Kumar. He went on to equate him with Ravan.
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He said that as arrogance let down Ravan similar arrogance would let Nitish down too. The Janata Dal (United) leaders reacted sharply and some of them went on to said that Lalu had lost his mental balance.
But Lalu is both happy and worried over the recent developments. He is happy that the 16 years old BJP-Janata Dal (United) alliance is on the verge of collapse, but at the same time is somewhat uneasy over the way proximity is developing between Nitish Kumar and Congress. It is also true that the Janata Dal (United) chief Sharad Yadav is still against Congress.
The way the Union Human Resources Development Ministry agreed to open the Central University of Bihar both at Motihari and Gaya and acceptance of other state government’s demands suggest that something is cooking up. The Janata Dal (United)’s support to Pranab Mukherjee can also be seen in the same light.
Lalu, who is trying to imitate Mulayam Singh Yadav, is feeling somewhat anxious over the way Congress and Janata Dal (United) are coming together. True, Congress is hardly a force in Bihar, but for his political survival RJD chief needs its support. For full five years he served as a powerful, resourceful and to much extent a successful minister in the Centre. If Congress is really tilting towards Nitish it is clear that Lalu has lost his bargaining position.
Besides, unlike Mulayam Singh Yadav, the RJD chief at present can not bank on the support of his son(s). They are too young and even if Lalu introduces one of them to politics, as was speculated by a section of media recently, it would take too long to groom him. Apart from that some senior RJD leaders are now no more in the mood of tolerating too much of family rule. Mulayam’s son Akhilesh Yadav is much older, mature and experienced.
As repeatedly observed Lalu is not concentrating too much on Yadav votes as he knows that they would vote for him. In fact he is working more on the upper castes and repeatedly telling them that the mistakes of the heydays of Mandal years would not be repeated.
He is doing his level best to woo Muslims, Dalits and Extreme Backward Castes, though it is really difficult to woo the last named. After all NItish gave them 20 per cent reservation in the local bodies.
In his speeches recently Lalu seldom misses to mention the killing of Brahmeshwar Singh alias Mukhiyaji. He would say that had Mukhiyaji been killed during his or his wife’s rule everyone would have accused him of getting rid of the Ranvir Sena chief. What he is saying is clear: Why are people not saying that Nitish is behind his killing?
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