Lalu, Paswan in ‘yatra’ mode
With Bihar’s leading Opposition leaders increasing their tours across the state to campaign against the Nitish Kumar-led NDA government, challenges are piling up before the main ruling party JD(U) in the aftermath of Narendra Modi’s rise in prominence.
While RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav on Monday resumed his “Parivartan Yatra” tour and chastised the JD(U)-BJP coalition government at a massively attended rally in Arwal, LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan is set to begin his “Bihar Bachao Yatra” from January 5. JD(U) leaders, who had been smugly hoping for a hat-trick in Bihar like in Gujarat mainly by the strength of chief minister Nitish Kumar’s towering personality, have now been forced to talk about fresh strategies to win in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.
The JD(U), currently under increased dilemma as chances of Modi being projected as the NDA’s PM candidate, finds the communalism issues raised afresh by Yadav and Paswan difficult to counter. While JD(U) leaders keep describing both Opposition leaders as spent forces, they have reportedly told both Kumar and JD(U) national president Sharad Yadav of “the need for a reorientation” of the party’s strategies in time before the LS polls.
The huge crowd that attended Yadav’s rally in Arwal and the RJD chief’s strident attacks on Kumar’s government on a wide range of issues made several JD(U) leaders reconsider the methods they had so far used to belittle his potentials. Yadav, currently in the eighth phase of his tour of Bihar, described Kumar’s government of seven years as one based on relentless propaganda and a total failure. Paswan is set to step up the heat against the NDA government in his tour.
“Bihar’s people have already rejected these two leaders,” said JD(U) spokesman Neeraj Kumar.
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