Lalu struggling to keep up?
Manoj Chaurasia from "The Statesman"
Patna, March 24: Is the RJD chief Mr Lalu Prasad, who calls himself the champion of the downtrodden, really a “mass leader? Does he hold the charisma to win from any seat in Bihar or he is too scared of defeat?
What has triggered this debate in political circles ahead of the polls is the way the RJD chief has been changing his political constituencies, ignoring the voters who melted after listening to his emotional appeals and lent their support to him. In the last 32 years, since he started his political career as one of the youngest MPs in the country in Chapra in 1977, Mr Prasad has travelled to almost half of the north Bihar districts ~ Chapra, Sonepur (Saran), Danapur (Patna), Raghopur (Vaishali), Madhepura, and Pataliputra (Patna) ~ looking for a constituencies to settle down permanently. His quest for such a place is yet to succeed.
This time, the “Global Management Guru” ~ an epithet given to him after he was credited with turning the sick Indian railways into a milking cow as Union railway minister ~ will contest from two seats in Bihar, bringing the total number of constituencies he has contested to six. He is currently contesting from Patliputra ~ the new parliamentary seat which has come into being after the delimitation exercise ~ in addition to Chapra (now Saran). He announced this yesterday when releasing the list of party candidates for the 25 seats, of a total 28, that the RJD will be contesting in Bihar. Strangely, he laid claim to two seats at a time when the party faces revolt from within due to the denial of party tickets to sitting MPs and old party leaders.
Observers are surprised at the way that, even after three decades of his political career, the RJD president has been unable to find a constituency he can call his own. He has perpetually been wandering like a nomad looking for a safe place to pitch his tent for another five years. What has astounded them further is the way that Mr Prasad has switched to a new constituency now, despite after claiming to have moved the world by scripting the success of Indian railways.
“He (Mr Prasad) is short on confidence and does not have faith in his abilities to win from one seat,” the chief minister Mr Nitish Kumar commented. The general message has not gone down well either. The common man, reacting through the newspapers, has sought to discourage outsiders purporting to be have the voters' best interests at heart only during the election season.
Most politicians in Bihar, political experts say, nurse one or two constituencies which they call their own. Mr Prasad is unique in Bihar in changing his constituencies frequently. He can’t say any constituency is his with confidence, they said.
Most of the constituencies from where he tried his luck in the past, official records show, have been dominated by his fellow Yadav caste voters. This negates his claim to be a mass leader or representative of every section of society. “If Mr Prasad does not have the confidence to win at a time when the entire world is singing his paens over the railway success story and foreign business schools are conducting research on his charisma, then when (will he have an easy win)?” asked a political expert from Patna BN College.
Mr Prasad contested the last polls from Chapra and Madhepura seats and won both comfortable margins, but he vacated Madhepura later. He was reportedly annoyed with the people of Madhepura, who backed his rival Mr Sharad Yadav in the 1999 Lok Sabha polls and caused an embarrassing defeat.
This time he has abandoned his old constituency Madhepura forever and reached Pataliputra, perhaps looking for some permanence. This could allow him to conduct the final round of politics from the state capital, although Chapra (Saran) is still in his mind. Yet the people are not sure if Mr Prasad will retain Chapra if he wins both seats. He has a history of forgetting the old seat he won last time.
I do not understand why our corrupt politicians should be allowed to stand for elections from more than one constituency. In case the person wins from both constituency he has to vacate one of the seats which again goes for elections. Thies requires expenses for both the government and the candidates.
Depending upon his party a person may spend anywhere between 10 lachs to 5 crores for a MP election and between 5 lakhs to 50 lakhs for an MLA election.
If a person wants to stand from more than one Parliament seat, he should be made to pay Rs 5.0 crore extra for each additional constuency he files his nomination from and Rs 1.0 crore for an Assembly seat.
This money should be distributed betwwen the state and those candidates who spent their money and lost in that constituency.
These corrupt leaders who promise the electorate the moon and then run away to fool other electorates should be punished
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