Lalu Mor is indicative of the crossroads at which residents of Rajauli Assembly constituency in Nawada district, 5km from the Jharkhand border and 145km south of Patna, find themselves.

Residents named the stretch - it is not a crossing as the name (Mor) suggests - after Lalu Prasad when he became a Mandal messiah after 1990. But today they curse him for not having done anything for this Yadav and Kushwaha-dominated village.

While Lalu is trying to revive the Mandal magic, residents are more concerned about the development bus they seem to have missed. The expectations are highest at Dibaur village bordering Jharkhand. Residents there just need to take a trudge along National Highway (NH) 31 to the nearest village in Jharkhand to realise what they are missing. "The neighbouring village has better electricity and water facility. We hope this election will change our lives and give us what we need," said Sudharshan Kushwaha of Dibaur.

There was a plan to set up a 1,400MW (two units of 700MW each) nuclear power plant at Rajauli - that would have made it the first nuclear power plant in the country's east - but the state government has failed to get river water for it. But nuclear is now a forgotten dream; people are struggling for basic needs such as roads, electricity and irrigation facilities.

Ram Dev Singh (49) of Mordawan panchayat in Rajauli, a teacher at the Middle High School in Akbarpur block of Hisua Assembly segment, says people's lives here have not changed since 1990. "In the euphoria surrounding implementation of the Mandal Commission report, residents named the lane after Laluji, but the condition of this village remains just the way it was 25 years ago," said Ram Dev.

Going by Lalu's speeches it would appear he is not in sync with the aspirations here. The RJD chief never fails to criticise RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat for his remarks, in a recent interview, that the reservation policy should be reviewed. Over my dead body, Lalu has been harping in response.

And, not to forget his favourite social combination, he reminds Muslims how he ordered BJP patriarch L.K. Advani's arrest during his Rath Yatra in Samastipur.

On March 3, 2014, Lalu visited the stretch and dedicated it to the late socialist leader Jagdeo Prasad, who fought for the downtrodden and backward castes. "Sahid Jagdeo Prasad Dwar" is now inscribed on a 30ft dwar (gate) local RJD leader Shri Chandra Yadav erected. "Lalu Mor" is inscribed right under it. But almost a quarter of a century later, the Mandal magic seems to be on the wane, at least at Lalu Mor, which connects Targir, Lengura, Beejban, Mananpur, Dhamaul, Salempur and many more villages in this Assembly segment.

Lalu began by demanding that the Centre release the figures from the socio-economic-caste census. When that did not click, he likened the Assembly polls to a "fight between backward and forward castes" - over which the Election Commission sent a notice to him over alleged model code violation. The "backward-forward fight", however, has not enamoured Rajauli residents.

Kajri Bigha resident Vilash Thakur said: "The condition of residents here remained the same even under Nitishji. There is no hand pump at any place in a 5km area around the village. We have to fetch water from other villages. We are poor people. Laluji had made some promises when he came here during the Lok Sabha elections last year. We want to see development but he still talks of Mandal-Kamandal."

When The Telegraph team visited the village, the BJP's high-tech rath was on a roll. The BJP has fielded Arjun Ram, denying a ticket to Kanhaiya Kumar. The Grand Alliance has fielded Prakash Beer. Both are Mahadalits; Beer is a Pasi and Kanhaiya a Rajvanshi. Both are fresh faces and have been district secretary of their party units. The fight will be tough.

Rajauli votes on October 12