Patna, January 7
After being drubbed in the 2005 Assembly poll in Bihar, RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav indeed had some happy memories of 2006.
A clean chit from the CBI court in a crucial disproportionate assets case, an opportunity to interact with and “teach” IIM, Ahmedabad, students and recently a session with Harvard and Wharton students on the turnaround in the Indian Railways are a few to mention.
Sources said even American universities are keen to get Lalu to their campuses this year to share his strategy.
But despite the pat on his back by none other than Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi for his success as Railway Minister, Lalu is far from being satisfied as he was more keen to get back the power in Bihar.
This was evident during his recent visit to Varanasi, where he had prayed for restoration of power in Bihar at the Baba Vishwanath Temple.
“Patna Rajdhani phir mil jaaye,” Lalu remarked when he was asked what he had prayed for. There is an element of euphoria in the RJD following some positive development concerning Lalu in 2006.
Party’s national general secretary Shyam Rajak said Lalu was preparing for a more aggressive role as the Opposition in the state in the days to come.
The ruling NDA, however, was not in the mood to take him seriously. Another former RJD leader, now a close aide of Nitish Kumar, Shivanand Tiwary pointed out that despite his acquittal in the crucial disproportionate case, Lalu was still facing six more fodder scam cases.
Observers here feel that even though Lalu may have gained a legal victory in the abovesaid case, it has nothing to do with his political revival. This was primarily because his problems in Bihar were more political.
On the contrary, despite his association with the BJP, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar succeeded to win over a section of the minority following some bold moves on his part during 15 months of the NDA rule.
He not only had dared to open up some old cases in the Bhagalpur riots of 1989 under the then Congress regime but also strongly advocated for the reservation of Dalit Muslims on the lines of SC/ ST.
Besides, the crucial third froce in Bihar politics, LJP, whose influence on a section of Dalits played a key role in deciding poll results, has not yet softened its stand towards Lalu.
Adding to his woes, the Left, particularly the CPI, still considered him as untouchable as far as Bihar was concerned.
Against this backdrop, a desperate Lalu has now asked his party leaders to either perform or perish in his bid to revive the RJD.
But his recent efforts to get his act together and make an organisational structure of the party perhaps could be viewed as a virtual admission of his incapability to win elections on his own.
Senior RJD leaders have already toured the assigned districts between December 25 amd 30 to take stock of the situation and identify non-performing units. They have submitted a detailed report to Lalu.
