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Sonia has been misled: Lalu Prasad

By Venkitesh Ramakrishnan

PATNA, FEB. 3. The Rashtriya Janata Dal president and Railway Minister, Lalu Prasad, has accused sections of the State Congress of having `misled' the party president, Sonia Gandhi, about the political situation in Bihar and persuading the high command to fight the Assembly elections independent of the RJD-led combine. Mr. Lalu Prasad made this observation in an exclusive conversation with The Hindu on Wednesday night, hours before Thursday's first round of polling in 64 constituencies of the State.

The RJD leader's contention was that sections of the Bihar Congress had got carried away by the success in the Lok Sabha polls, imagining that the party had built up a massive support base in the State. ``They thought that this was the time to drive a hard bargain with the RJD and develop the party.''

``It was these State leaders with a faulty perception,'' Mr. Lalu Prasad claimed, ``who misled the Congress high command and made it to ask for too many seats during alliance negotiations and finally persuaded it to contest a large number of seats independently.'' According to Mr. Lalu Prasad, he had tried to correct this misconception, but with little success.

Departure from silence

The allegation marked a departure from the studied silence that the RJD leader had maintained on the Congress election strategy through out the campaigning for the first phase of polls. In fact, till Wednesday Mr. Lalu Prasad and other leaders of the RJD had abstained from making any direct reference to the Congress in their campaign meetings too.

But there were indications on the eve of the first round of polling that this too would change in the remaining part of the campaign. The Chief Minister and Mr. Lalu Yadav's wife, Rabri Devi, was reported to have criticised the Congress for the Bhagalpur and Sitamarhi communal riots of the 1980s in the election meetings she addressed on Wednesday.

Asked whether this change of tack was caused by the implicit anti-RJD sentiments expressed in Ms. Gandhi's campaign in Bihar and the popular response it has evoked, the RJD chief responded in the negative. ``I have no reasons to be upset about Soniaji's campaign, because she has only been saying what I have maintained through out the past few years,'' he added. ``Soniaji has talked about the need to improve the law and order situation in Bihar and enhancing the State's educational standards, health system and administration in general and I too have been saying all this.''

Law and order

According to Mr. Lalu Prasad, the only difference between him and Ms. Gandhi is that, as a son of the soil, he has been highlighting the ways and means to address these social and political issues. ``For example improving the law and order situation entails strong measures against the mafia and criminals, many of whom have taken political refuge in organisations like the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Ramvilas Paswan-led Lok Janshakthi Party.''

The RJD leader, indirectly referring to the Congress, said that anybody who expects to improve law and order in Bihar by aligning with `mafia-infested' parties like the LJP is `living in a fool's paradise.'

The Congress is being supported by the LJP in all the 80 seats it is contesting.

Mr. Lalu Prasad claimed that the police have dug up evidence about the involvement of a number of BJP and LJP leaders in the spate of kidnappings in Bihar during the run-up to the first phase of polling. ``All that they want to do is to give a bad name to the RJD Government and make political capital out of it.''

He brushed aside allegations that the release of the two kidnapped boys on the eve of the first phase polling pointed to a nexus between the kidnappers and the RJD. ``My opponents were crying hoarse that the Government has not been able to get the boys back and when the police actually bring them back, they indulge in yet another political campaign.''

The RJD chief said sections of the media and some political pundits were also part of this vile campaign. ``These campaigners,'' he added, ``have also been propagating that the Muslim minorities of the State are disillusioned with the RJD and that the party-led alliance would lose the polls.''

The Minister said that such campaigns have characterised the run-up to almost all the elections in the State during the past decade and that he sees them as a welcome development. For, ``this inspires the RJD cadre to work harder and ensure the success of party candidates.''

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