Laloo: Damage-control

Patna, April 1: With his defences down after the embarrassment in the elections, Laloo Prasad Yadav has begun taking his position as railway minister seriously for staying in the limelight, a habit that has grown with him over the years.

Ever since it became clear that the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) was miles away from the centre of power in Bihar, the focus of the media has shifted to Governor Buta Singh on the one hand and Laloo Prasad?s opponents like Ram Vilas Paswan and Nitish Kumar on the other.

Both leaders have been making noises about the possibility of forming a government in the state while the third element of the drama, the BJP, is largely silent over the ?efforts? being made by the other non-RJD parties.

Buta Singh has been attempting to convey the message that he means business when it comes to reviving the fortunes of Bihar and that the bureaucracy is acting as the agent of change in this task by being overwhelmingly on his side.

Laloo Prasad, on the contrary, has been trying to register his presence in the people?s mind by going on a spree of inaugurating trains and even ticket counters in places like Siwan and Darbhanga. The railway authorities have eagerly helped their boss in his plans by placing incongruously mega newspaper advertisements to announce the minister?s programmes. ?More such shows are in the pipeline,? a railway officer said.

The RJD chief has described the political flux in the state as ?merely the interval? before his party storms back to power. But party sources admit that the task is anything but easy for Laloo Prasad, given the present composition of the Assembly wherein the RJD has just 75 seats, 47 short of the majority mark.

?There is a strong determination in the other political parties to throttle our move to form a government. We do not expect a change in this attitude. But this has come as an opportunity for us to increase our interaction with the masses while revamping the party organisation at all levels. We will start with our district conventions very soon. Ultimately, an RJD government will be formed in Bihar,? a senior party leader said.

Many leaders in the RJD have begun looking at fresh elections as the only way out of the impasse since that could also revive the chances of a better performance by the party at the hustings.

Senior leader and Union minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh has even gone on record with this line, asserting that mid-term elections are inevitable if central rule continues for a few more months in the state.

The RJD?s troubles have been compounded by the fact that civil servants and senior police officers have been openly acting against their leaders.

The Siwan district magistrate?s orders to arrest MP Mohammad Shahabuddin if he enters the district and again declaring Siwan out-of-bounds for senior leader Shivanand Tiwary have not gone down well with the party.

Even director-general of police Narayan Mishra has attributed the decline in crime to the absence of political patronage for trouble-mongers after the imposition of President?s rule.

?The bureaucracy is known to change its colours according to the wishes of the person in command. Politicians do not relish this, particularly those who have just been thrown out of power. They would not like the situation to continue for long,? a senior IAS officer said.