Ranchi, Oct. 3: Separation pangs continue to assail Bihar strongman Laloo Prasad Yadav.

Nearly two years after the bifurcation of Bihar, Rashtriya Janata Dal president Laloo Prasad today said he was yet to overcome the heartache of parting.

The RJD chief, however, predicted that the “raj gaddi” of Jharkhand would finally belong to him.

“The secular parties would soon overthrow the BJP-RSS clique in Jharkhand and come back to power,” he said.

The RJD chief arrived at Ranchi around midnight by road from Patna and was put up at the state guest house in Morahbadi. He will appear personally in the fodder scam cases.

Talking to a group of reporters early this morning, Laloo Prasad rued that all he had built in the Jharkhand region had been destroyed. “The Bihar Plateau Development Project guest house where I am staying now was built during my tenure. The adjacent Ranchi College, the university buildings and all other institutions that you see around were built by Bihar. Show me a single building that has been constructed by the Jharkhand government,” he said.

Continuing his tirade against the BJP-RSS-VHP combine, Laloo Prasad said by the time he entered Jharkhand from Patna, it was already dark and he could see nothing.

However, he said instead of reviving the ailing HEC and hundreds of other sick industries, improving the roads, water and power supplies and the deteriorating law and order condition, the BJP-led government was installing high-mast lamps in the cities which stay without power.

“Now they are hunting for a new capital,” he added. The RJD chief said necessary logistics for a capital had long existed in Ranchi, including a secretariat, Governor’s house and even the chief minister’s residence. “Jharkhand was nature’s gift to mankind with abundant minerals and the presence of many private sector and public sector industries. In undivided Bihar, all state approvals for mineral exploitation in Jharkhand were primarily accorded to those willing to set up mineral-based industries thus fostering rapid industrialisation,” he said. Prasad, however, said instead of utilising the available resources, the BJP was out to loot the state exchequer by planning to set up a new capital all over again with help from outside agencies. He alleged that as part of the BJP’s political agenda to sell off the country’s assets, Babulal Marandi’s government was planning a new capital with finances from abroad.

Hinting at a grand alliance of the RJD, Congress, JMM and other secular parties, Prasad said the tussle to overthrow the BJP in other states as well as from the Centre had already begun. On the Godda Lok Sabha bypoll, he said he would put up a “consensus opposition candidate” to ensure BJP’s rout.

The RJD president said he would have no problems in accepting Sonia Gandhi as the next Prime Minister. “No excuses can be accepted to allow Atal Bihari Vajpayee to continue in power,” he added.