NEW DELHI, 8 November 2005 — Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi will be traveling to Bihar on Nov. 8 and 10 respectively in order to garner support for the Secular Democratic Front (SDF).
Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee spokesman Kripanath Pathak said Manmohan would address two meetings at Saharsa and Sitamarhi respectively. While former Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi would attend the rally at Saharsa, Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav would address the meeting at Sitamarhi with Manmohan, he added.
All India Congress Committee General Secretary Digvijay Singh and state Congress President Sadanand Singh would attend both the rallies, Pathak said, adding that Sonia Gandhi would address four election meetings at Araria, Benipatti, Chanpatia and Chapra on Nov. 10.
Meanwhile, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad, accusing the state administration and the Election Commission (EC) of trying to help the NDA win the state elections in Bihar, said that NDA would never be able to realize its dream of coming into power in Bihar even with the help of EC or state officials.
“No party can come to power with the help of administrators. If that had been the case, the RJD would not have come to power in 1990,” Yadav said while talking to reporters at his residence here.
“When I came to power, I got rid of all the feudal officers and replaced them with honest officers. Now the same people are trying to ambush me to wrestle power away from the poor and backward,” he said.
Lalu Prasad also extended his support to External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh and called the Volcker report baseless and a ‘pack of lies’.
Janata Dal (U) leader Nitish Kumar, who was campaigning in Champaran district, took aim at Lalu Prasad, saying the RJD chief actually meant to say that no party could come to power because of help from the administration but could only come to power because of criminal muscle power.
“Who would know better than the RJD president who is known to employ such tactics,” he said.
Shahabuddin Remanded to Judicial Custody
Meanwhile, RJD MP from Siwan, Mohammad Shahabuddin, who was arrested in Delhi on Saturday, was remanded to judicial custody for a fortnight by a local court in Siwan yesterday.
Shahabuddin was produced before the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate(ACJM) T. Dubey, who remanded him to custody on eight criminal cases relating to murder, abduction, power theft and possessing illegal firearms.
Shahabuddin, who was taken to Siwan in a state government chopper from the state capital, was produced at the residence of Dubey, adjacent to the District Collectorate amid protests by RJD supporters.
Dubey remanded him to judicial custody for a fortnight in all the eight cases, District Police Chief, R. S. Bhatti told newspersons.
Bhatti said Shahabuddin was then taken to Siwan Jail for some legal formalities before being sent to Bhagalpur, in the same chopper, where he would be lodged in high security jail.
