February 10: Laloo Prasad Yadav has dispensed with the Garib Chetna Rath on which he rode to many an election victory. His favourite mode of transport these days is a helicopter. With the urgency of a fireman at work, he has over the last three weeks been criss-crossing the State in search of support for his Rashtriya Janata Dal.``We do not have much time,'' says a family retainer at Laloo's Anne Road home, which is the official residence of his chief minister wife Rabri Devi. ``That is why Lalooji has discarded his chariot this time.''
Last week, Laloo addressed at least 50 medium-to-large-sized meetings all over Bihar. Apart from the helicopter, one obvious change from his last campaign is the presence of Rabri Devi at his elbow at almost all meetings. Rabri's role at the rallies is little more than, say, what Priyanka's is at Sonia Gandhi's. But Rabri's presence, nevertheless, has more than mere novelty value to Laloo. ``She is, after all, the State's Chief Minister and a party leader in her ownright,'' said an RJD functionary.
More to the point, Laloo gets a headstart over his chief rivals because he is the husband of the chief minister of Bihar. At all his public rallies, district officials are often called upon to pull out all stops to ensure things ``go smoothly because the chief minister will be present''. There is, of course, nothing official about this. Not with Election Commission officials and observers being forced to keep a hawk's eye on meetings. There is also the BJP's network of sleuths, waiting to pounce on the vaguest hint of a poll code infringement by the ruling party.
Conspicuously absent from Laloo public speeches is the brand of humour he could well patent. Missing too is his ability to instantly strike a rapport with his audience, and goad them into answering his rhetorical questions. Laloo at his best could hold large crowds in thrall with his witticism, his ability to lampoon his antagonists and get the crowd to do his bidding. The crowds' response, particularly atMadhepura, to a rhetorical, ``Who is the greatest champion of social justice?'' is muted.
With Laloo as its chief campaigner, the Janata Dal won only half of the 44 seats that it contested in 1996. It was a big setback for him. The JD's vote-share was a shade less than 32 per cent. With the JD since splitting, and the Rashtriya Janata Dal being formed, Laloo's chances are that much dimmer. This time he has poll arrangements with the Congress (that supports the Rabri government in Patna) and the JMM-S. But even small-time leaders of these parties are not very visible at Laloo-Rabri rallies. In at least six constituencies, Laloo and his allies have not been able to iron out their differences and are contesting against each other.
Laloo has already covered most of the important constituencies where the RJD has candidates and plans to launch the second phase of his campaign in a day or two. Significantly, he has not visited any of the constituencies that he has left for the Congress. On the eve ofelectioneering, he had promised to address public meetings in these constituencies too.
Rabri, a first-timer to the rough and tumble of electioneering, has invariably allowed her husband to do the talking. But, without apparent provocation, she attacked BJP candidate Rita Verma viciously in Dhanbad. Rabri, with uncharacteristic venom, described her as ``a slur on womanhood.'' Except for this, she has more or less confined her appeals to the public to ``sweep aside'' opponents of her husband and the RJD, ``with the bright light of the lantern.'' Current indications are that this may not be much more than wishful thinking.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
