February 23, 1998

Hajipur  Bihar
Electorate: 10.5 lakh
Main Rival: Ram Sunder Das (RJP-RJD)

As his Vikas Rath, complete with cordless microphones and plush interiors, passes through Hajipur's villages, a youngster revs up his motorcycle and shouts out to the railway minister: "Bhaiyya, if you win this time make me the chairman." Of what, someone asks. Ram Vilas Paswan, 52, shrugs. "Maybe the railway board." Who knows, who cares? Right now, Paswan is inclined to promise anything.

Laloo's threat seems to bother him. The Bihar chieftain, who dislikes Paswan as much as he does Sharad Yadav, has vowed to ensure Paswan loses by five lakh votes. Pride is at stake. So, Paswan doesn't want to win by just five lakh votes (as he did in 1989), he wants a six lakh margin. "Laloo thought he enabled us to win elections, I want to shatter his pride." So development is his new mantra. Never mind that most of his meetings are held in villages that have no electricity, his popularity hasn't dimmed. When he inquires about the absence of posters, he is told: "People steal them to paste your photo in their houses." Six lakh it is.

-- Bharat Desai

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