Lalu's Allies Turn against him following RJD's Defeat
Patna: January 2, 2008
With the humiliating defeat in the hands of the NDA leaders in Bikramganj, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) has now become the punching bag of many of its so-called allies at the Center who, following the announcement of Bikramganj poll results on Wednesday did not waste any time in criticizing the RJD for its political death in Bihar.
Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) leader and former Lalu Prasad Yadav supporter Ranjan Yadav, sending a strong message to the RJD supporters like the CPI and CPI-M, said the RJD was like a 'leaking boat in which whoever steps in would drown with the rest of them'.
"In the next Parliamentary elections, the RJD would struggle to win even a single seat," Yadav said adding the leftist parties like the CPI and CPI-M should be forewarned that marching to the tune of RJD would result in their political demise as well.
LJP spokesperson Sanjay Singh went a step further saying it was the LJP that caused the defeat of the RJD in Bikramganj.
"Now they (the RJD leaders) should realize the power of LJP president Ram Vilas Paswan who distanced himself with Lalu soon after the last Lok Sabha elections," Singh said.
Congress Party, another Lalu ally at the UPA government, also lashed out at the RJD attributing its loss in Bikramganj to its failure to stick with the coalition dharma.
Kripanath Pathak, putting the blame squarely on the RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, said that because of Yadav's failure to respect other UPA leaders, the party had to suffer humiliating defeat in the hands of Janata Dal (U).
"Not only the RJD leaders failed to take its allies into confidence, they also chose to ignore its own party activists in Bikramganj that cost them the seat," Pathak said.
Meanwhile, the RJD blamed low voters' turnout and 'abuse of government machinery by the NDA leaders' for its latest defeat in Bihar polls.
Controversial RJD leader and Union Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh said the party defeat was directly correlated with the low voters' turnout and accused Bihar Chief Minister of abusing government machinery to gain an upper hand in the campaigning in Bikramganj.
Refusing to admit that Bihar had grown weary of the antics of Lalu and his cohorts, Singh said there was no such thing as the NDA wave in Bihar and all the talks of development by the Nitish government was nothing more than a smokescreen to cover the failure of the NDA.
He, however, said that the party would soon hold a meeting to analyze the cause of its defeat in Bihar.
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