Lalu Prasad : RJD to counter BJP’s raths with ‘tumtums

Once bitter critics, Mr Kumar’s Janata Dal United (JDU) and Mr Prasad’s RJD has joined hands with Congress to form a broad alliance against the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) which has Union ministers Ram Vilas Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) and Upendra Kushwaha’s Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP) with the BJP.

BJP president Amit Shah on Thursday launched the party’s high-tech “Parivartan Rath” campaign for the polls by flagging off 160 GPS-fitted “raths” here. “They will go to every village and locality in the state and take our party’s audio visual messages to the people”, party’s general secretary and Bihar in-charge Bhupendra Yadav said, reports PTI.

Earlier, Nitish Kumar said the Narendra Modi government was “trying to impose the controversial land acquisition bill on farmers through the ordinance route that will prove costly”.

“Still he (Lalu) considers himself as leader of the alliance”, he remarked sarcastically. “It is now up to the NDA to turn Bihar into a modern, developed state”, the BJP President said. “The Bihar assembly elections are crucial for the country”.

Referring to NDA winning 13 out of 24 seats in the recent Legislative Council polls, the BJP chief said,”People have made it amply clear which way the wind is blowing”.

The BJP chief further said that by aligning with parties like the RJD and Congress, Nitish Kumar had betrayed the dreams of socialists like Jaya Prakash Narayan and Karpoori Thakur. The Rashtriya Janata Dal leader said the horse carts were ideal for Bihar’s “dusty and rough roads”. Shah also flagged off 160 motorized “parivartan raths” on a 100-day intense publicity drive in all the assembly constituencies.

“Why do we have to campaign against Nitish Kumar or Lalu Prasad”.

The chariots erected on pick-up vans will criss-cross the state, showing video clips of Lalu and Nitish sparring and attacking each other before forging friendship.

The victory of an independent, Ritlal Yadav, from Patna, who was till recently with the RJD, came as a big surprise as he not only defeated the JD-U’s official candidate – who had the support of RJD – but also of the BJP.