The race between Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and his arch rival Lalu Prasad Yadav for greater public support within the state openly encompassed the unlikely territory of Pakistan on Sunday after Yadav told his supporters that he was more popular there than Mr Kumar.
Mr Yadav, chief of Bihar’s main Opposition party RJD, made this explicit claim in his speech before a massive crowd in Saharsa during his ongoing “parivartan yatra” of Bihar. Coming three days after both Houses of the Bihar Legislature praised Mr Kumar’s much-hyped weeklong visit to Pakistan in November, Mr Yadav’s comments surprised many both within the ruling and Opposition parties.
“Both the people and politicians in Pakistan still talk about me and my administrative capabilities... My contributions as the railway minister are still being talked about in political circles in Pakistan,” said Mr Yadav, who had visited Pakistan as a member of the parliamentary delegation in 2003, in an apparent rebuttal of the international praises showered on Kumar’s governance skills and the JD(U)-BJP government he heads.
Mr Yadav’s open belittling of Mr Kumar’s impacts on Pakistanis is also seen as the RJD chief’s efforts to prevent Mr Kumar’s robust pro-minority image from making any additional gains in terms of the minority votes in coming polls. The ruling NDA has been hopeful of endearing itself more to Bihar’s Muslims.