The stakes are much higher now. Sharad is one of the leading lights of the Janata Dal (United)-Samata Party-BJP combine that is giving Laloo's struggling Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) sleepless nights. Both the titans have their tents pitched in Madhepura, determined to fight till the last.

However, there is little to separate the two in this constituency, which is the native place of Mandal Commission report's author B.P. Mandal. Both Sharad and Laloo claim to be the messiah of the Backwards, especially the Yadavs who comprise nearly four lakh of the 10-lakh population. The local saying is: ``Rome hai pope ka, Madhepura hai gope ka (Rome belongs to the Pope and Madhepura to the Gopes orYadavs).'' When they were together, in 1991, Laloo had helped Sharad cruise to a win here with 66.4 per cent votes. In return, Sharad helped Laloo become the chief minister. Now, the two are fighting for the same Yadav vote-bank.

With a division of votes staring them in the face, the support of the two lakh upper castes -- Rajput and Brahmin -- 1.75 lakh Dalits, 1.5 lakh non-Yadav Backwards and 70,000 Muslims have become crucial.

Realising he has a battle on his hands, Sharad denies that this war is about castes at all. ``Why does the Press always analyse the elections on caste lines?'' he asks. ``In Madhepura, it is a fight against corrupt Laloo, and this enjoys the support of masses cutting across caste lines.''

The JD(U) leader has been nourishing the constituency since last time's defeat to Laloo by 52,000 votes, and is convinced that the ``highly educated'' and ``culturally advanced'' Yadavs of the seat would no longer support ``a corrupt person who has eaten away funds meant for the poor, Dalitsand OBCs''. Sharad even points out that the BJP combine's star campaigner Atal Behari Vajpayee has not addressed a meeting in Madhepura. The reason, he explains, is that in Madhepura even who becomes the prime minister is not an issue, only how to uproot the ``jungle raj'' of Laloo.

Camped in his new ``Library Hall'' and surrounded by his supporters, Sharad is keeping a close watch on the RJD campaign. This reporter met him on the day Laloo held a rally here, his supporters descending on the Jhanda Maidan. The meeting was supposed to be an answer to a huge rally addressed by Sharad on September 14. But the JD(U) leader was unfazed. ``Just see the misuse of the government machinery, Laloo is indulging in naked use of money,'' he said. He also urged his audience to wait for the D-day to decide who will win.

If Laloo entertains his crowds with his well-known jokes and jibes, Sharad is cool and dry, preferring personal interaction. It seems to be yielding results. Laloo's Jhanda Maidan rally, despite hissupporters' efforts, failed when people walked out halfway through it. On the other hand, Muslim voters, who have contributed to the RJD's electoral showing in the past, may not vote en bloc for Laloo this time due to their personal rapport with Sharad. They are not buying Laloo's campaign line of Sharad sitting in the lap of communal forces. Instead, the general feeling is that Sharad will force the BJP to dilute its pro-Hindu policies.

The JD(U) leader has also managed to make the lack of development an issue within this maze of caste politics. Such is the condition of roads here that villagers have dubbed the one that leads out of Maheskhunt ``the abortion road''. A story goes that the bumps on it can cause any pregnant woman to miscarry. Even the Yadavs complain about the neglect of Madhepura, noting that had Laloo been sincere to their cause, he would have taken pains to improve the infrastructure.

Sharad's fear is a desperate Laloo may resort to exploiting the government machinery or electoralmalpractices to fight back. Attributing his 1998 loss to ``money, mafia and musclemen'', Sharad says: ``The violence will scare away genuine voters and facilitate anti-socials to loot booths.'' He and his supporters are, therefore, telling voters ``to protect their votes'', with Sharad philosophising: ``Jahan vote lootata hai, wahin khazana lootata hai (Where votes get looted, the treasury gets looted).''

The JD(U) leader also claims to be campaigning ``to bring productive forces in the ambit of politics...The common people are least concerned about elections. This is not good for the country.''

But a distinct advantage the RJD supremo has over Sharad is that five of the six MLAs in the Madhepura constituency are with him. Three of them are ministers in the Rabri Devi cabinet. Laloo is also hoping that the Rajputs, who constitute 1 lakh of the total population, will side with him.

But right now, all calculations are going against Laloo. If Sharad had mustered 62 per cent votes in 1996, Laloocould manage just 47 per cent in his 1998 win. Worse, the combined votes of the JD and Samata in 1998 were much more than those polled by Laloo.

Sharad has a story to puncture Laloo's hopes regarding the 4 per cent Muslim vote bank as well. Recently, he says, Laloo went to Bhirakhi, a Muslim-dominated village near Madhepura. ``While on his way to his office, after addressing some meetings, he saw a decorated dais on the campus of the local Madrasa. Without consulting his partymen, he went inside, thinking that the crowd was waiting for him. Instead, he was chased away with slogans and boos,'' narrates Sharad, with obvious pleasure. ``Is ghatana ke bare mein kya kahen? (What should I say about this incident?'', he adds. ``Meeting meri thi aur Laloo pahunch gaya (The meeting was for me but Laloo reached there).''

Laloo's aides do not deny this, only asserting that the RJD chief had been misguided by partymen.