Lalu vows stir against Nitish govt

PATNA: RJD president Lalu Prasad has said that the NDA government's claims that Bihar is changing for the better is a gimmick.

"I would like to know what chief minister Nitish Kumar has done on his own and without the financial aids from the Centre," Lalu said while addressing a 'mahadharna', organized by the party at the JP roundabout near Gandhi Maidan on Saturday. 

The Chhapra MP termed the 'mahadharna' as a trailer and said the party is gearing up for a march to Forbesganj on September 5 to highlight the atrocities being perpetrated by the government on a particular community. A massive rally would be taken out from the Gandhi Maidan to Rajbhavan on October 11, Lalu said.
"Abhi to sada-sada chal raha, par baad mein dhakka-dhukki ke liye taiyar hain (For now, ours is a simple stir. But we are ready to jostle against policemen if they come in our way later)," he said in his inimitable style.
Party MPs Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, Jagdanand and Ram Kripal Yadav and other leaders, including Kanti Singh, Illiyas Hussain, Shakuni Chowdhary, Veena Shahi, Abdul Bari Siddiqui, Ghulam Gaus and Raghunath Jha participated in the 'mahadharna'.

There has been no perceptible change in the state ever since the NDA came to power, Lalu said and added that 94% villages in Bihar were without power. BIADA land allotment scam and AC-DC Bills scam have made headlines, he said.
"Bureaucrats are ruling the roost in Bihar," the RJD chief said and claimed that a survey conducted by taxmen found that 60% of the flats in the state capital were owned by block development officers (BDOs) and circle officers (COs). "They pocketed the funds meant for development schemes, particularly MNREGA," he alleged and predicted "Nitish's sunset" soon as "one cannot thrive for long merely on the strength of ads".

The RJD has chalked out a course of agitation to press for its demands, including adequate power supply, CBI probe
into AC-DC bill and BIADA 'scams', regularization of the services of teachers appointed on contract basis and recruitment of sanitary staff in municipal bodies.