RJD chief Lalu Prasad covers his head with a towel during his party’s Raj Bhavan march in Patna on Tuesday. Picture by Deepak Kumar

Patna, Oct. 11: Back to the state capital with a new-found vigour (post-2010 Assembly polls debacle), RJD chief Lalu Prasad felt the heat again today as mercury soared to 34 °C.

Lalu’s march against the state government, however, proved to be a bigger challenge for his supporters, who had to wait for an agonising one-and-a-half hours for their leader to step out of his 10 Circular Road residence. Lalu was scheduled to reach JP roundabout at 12noon, he reached the venue at 1.30pm.

Many supporters complained Lalu should have started on time given the weather was too hot and humid. Ram Naresh Yadav, a supporter from Bhagalpur, said: “It’s too hot today and we have been standing on the road from over 90 minutes. He should at least come on the time.”

Once Lalu reached the venue, workers of Bihar Nav Nirman Manch, a political outfit recently formed by suspended JD(U) MP Upendra Kushwaha, had a horrid time as RJD workers almost walked over them to reach JP’s statue.

Around 20 workers of Nav Nirman Manch were sitting on a day-long fast in front to the JP statue under a tent. In their bid to clear the way for Lalu to garland JP’s statue, the RJD supporters forcibly removed Kushwaha’s partymen from the venue, even bringing down their tent.

Over 200 RJD workers finally managed to take Lalu in front and the latter was able to garland JP’s statue. It was only after Lalu and his followers left the venue that workers of Bihar Nav Nirman Manch managed to re-erect the tent and resume their protest.

An angry member of the party said: “The RJD workers have always been indisciplined. What was the need for so much people to garland the statue, only Lalu could have come with few senior party members. So much nuisance was created unnecessarily.”

Though Lalu called his supporters for a march, he did not walk much to mark his protest.

He stepped out from his SUV and after garlanding JP’s statue, stepped back into the open car, especially designed for Lalu to address his supporters.

The RJD leader still couldn’t escape the scorching heat and kept a towel on his head to remain cool and calm.

Later, five members of the party went to Raj Bhavan to submit a memorandum against Nitish Kumar’s government.