Congress digs out JP-era coupon scam

Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, during her one-day campaign in South Bihar, lambasted Laloo for the ills plaguing Bihar anmd for turning the State bankrupt. She was highly critical of the many scams and denial of benefits to the poor.

Sonia was also critical of Laloo’s stand on creation of a separate Vananchal state. Though she lambasted the Vajpayeegovernment for its failure to keep its commitment, her main focus of attack was Laloo.

The Congress does not intend to lose the opportunity to enhance its poll performance. The party is contesting all the 324 seats, but the leaders are sure of performing better this time. In the 1995 elections, the party won 29 seats. This time, the leaders are confident the number of seats willl go up.The Congress leadership has pinned its hopes on visits by Sonia. Ironically, she could not complete a second day of electioneering in South Bihar due to inclement weather. During the Lok Sabha elections, too, a similar situation had cropped up.

Sonia was to address a number of meetings in South Bihar on Saturday, but all had to be cancelled due to cloudy condition. Her helicopter could not take off from Jamshedpur and she returned to Delhi. However, the Congress leaders are hopeful that her tour of Central and North Bihar will drastically tilt the situation in favour of the Congress.

The upper caste, which had shifted itsloyalty to the BJP during the Lok Sabha elections, are coming round to the Congress, they say.

Sahay told The Indian Express that the party had made it a point to highlight the involvement of Laloo in corrupt practices in Central and North Bihar, the region which has been extending support to Laloo. He said it was ironical that supporters of Jayaprakash Narayan were deeply involved in corrupt practices. He said the promise of Laloo to provide corruption-free governance was a mere bluff.