Lalu wooing Brahmins.

In his last-ditch effort to keep his party tally intact, RJD chief Mr Lalu Prasad has now reached out to rival Brahmin's for their support ~ thus searching for his new political option beyond his decades-old electoral equation of M-Y (Muslim-Yadav). Previously, he would often mock the Brahmin's and even talked about burning religious scriptures. Brahmin's constitute nine per cent of Bihar’s population which, in the event of their backing, could well tilt the balance in favour of RJD-LJP given the Muslims who now look divided over en-bloc support to any party. 
Mr Prasad has suddenly discovered the “virtues” of this community and is saying that they deserve respect. “We had a golden era under Chandragupta. But whom did he give much importance to? It was Chanakya who, as we all know, was a Brahmin's. Thus, they deserve respect. Also no religious work is complete without them”, explained the RJD president here yesterday. 
The embattled RJD chief had visited former chief minister Dr Jagannath Mishra, a Maithil Brahmin who holds his firm grip in the Mithila region comprising over half-a-dozen districts of north Bihar, on Monday to get support of his community. That appeal worked yesterday when the Akhil Bhartiya Brahmin Mahasabha (ABBM), an organisation of upper caste Brahmins, lent their wholehearted support to the RJD while describing Mr Prasad a “harmless” person. The ABBM has even announced a yajna to ensure victory of the RJD-LJP combine in the elections.
“We had heard about Sudama (Brahmin's) visiting Krishna for help but today it’s Krishna (Mr Lalu Prasad) who has gone to the house of Sudama (Dr Mishra). How can we forget this appeal? We are lending our unconditional support to him”, ABBM executive president Mr Birendra Pandey declared before the RJD chief. He expressed shock over the way no political party had given them due support. “It’s unfortunate to see the Congress snubbing Brahmin's as a captive vote-bank of the BJP, but the latter dismissing it as the traditional supporters of the Congress. The JD-U is even worse. It has not given ticket to even a single Brahmin's leader”, Mr Pandey added. 
Although the official line is that the RJD joined hands to prevent any possible division of “secular” votes, the inside story remains that Mr Prasad is trying hard to bank on the popularity of Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav that he enjoys among the Muslims given his firm handling of Ayodhya temple movement. Despite the fact that Muslims are still not ready to forget and forgive the Babri mosque demolition even 17 years after its demotion in which Mr LK Advani, NDA’s Prime Ministerial candidate, was involved, a section of them looks impressed by welfare schemes launched by Mr Nitish Kumar-led ruling NDA government in Bihar. It’s the “change” in their mindset that is giving Mr Prasad the jitters. His desperation can be underlined from the fact that RJD is only second after the Congress to give tickets to a maximum of five Muslim candidates.

Courtesy Manoj Chaurasiya.The Statesman.