On Day 1, RJD chief’s roadshow fails to draw full house

‘‘I have cleaned up the Railways and earned laurels from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. I will do the same in Bihar,’’ said Laloo at meetings in Bihta and Koilwar. Yet, the response to his first roadshow was not encouraging.

At Bihta, his first stop 30 kms away from Patna, the motley gathering consisted mostly of those aspiring for party tickets—so what if the date was advertised in local papers. Even Laloo’s speech lacked conviction. His excuse: ‘‘Everyone has seen how Laloo and Rabri were hounded in different cases and not allowed to work.’’

Once gain projecting himself as the real leader of the poor, he warned people against getting trapped by ‘‘illusions’’ created by leaders such as JD(U)’s Nitish Kumar and LJP’s Ram Vilas Paswan. ‘‘Nitish Kumar is just a mask. Behind him are those forces who had ostracised your forefathers. Don’t get trapped by their false promises,’’ he said. Even in his second stop, Bhojpur’s Koilwar, Laloo’s roadshow—organised to counter the massive Nyay Yatra of NDA’s CM candidate Nitish, the crowd was far from enthusiastic.

Soon after his speech, a local resident raised his voice to complain that for the last six months they had no electricity as the faulty transformer was yet to be replaced. However, Anil Gope’s voice could not reach Laloo—he had already raced away in a cloud of dust.