Nitish common target as JD(U) rebels join RJD,LJP at Kisan rally today

With neither Lalu Prasad nor Ramvilas Paswan speaking up against their men joining leaders from rival parties at the Kisan Mahapanchayat forum,Nitish Kumar faces a stiff challenge in keeping his upper caste votes intact since the bataidari issue cropped up. The D Bandhopadhyay Land Reform Commission report,submitted to the Bihar government in 2008,had recommended new bataidari laws for wresting surplus land from landlords,mostly upper castes.

Speaking to The Sunday Express,Banka MP Digvijay Singh,instrumental in getting together leaders from divergent groups,said: “We do stand for a common cause to remove the Nitish government that works on caste lines under camouflage of development plank”.

Singh claimed that the Kisan Mahapanchayat rally at Gandhi Maidan would attract an unprecedented response and would vindicate their stand on “no bataidari laws”.

Asked about the common public perception of Lalu Prasad “helping” them by getting his man —Akhilesh Singh — to “fund” the Kisan Mahapanchayat,Singh said though they would launch a frontal attack against Nitish,they would not spare Lalu.

“We are talking about 20 years of casteist government. The so-called development in Nitish government is just a good patchwork on existing roads”.

Singh said that as the Kisan Mahapanchayat had caught the people’s imagination,it would soon be converted into a political party. “We will announce the coming of Lok Morcha,an exercise before floating the party”,said Singh,adding they would reach out to all disgruntled sections cutting across castes and religions.