The RJD on Tuesday trained its guns on Nitish Kumar, alleging that its party workers were not being allowed to participate in governance and that the chief minister was responsible for it.
The RJD leaders also launched a bitter attack on the condition of education in the state - a field that Nitish flaunts regularly, especially progress in the sector since he came to power in 2005 - at the 93rd birth anniversary celebration of former chief minister and socialist leader Karpoori Thakur.
All this transpired at the RJD headquarters in Patna in the presence of party chief Lalu Prasad and a host of cabinet ministers, including finance minister Abdul Bari Siddiqui, cooperative minister Alok Mehta, disaster management minister Chandrashekhar, agriculture minister Ram Vichar Rai and tourism minister Anita Devi, on the dais.
The sharp criticism, overshadowing the event, came despite recent shows of "all is well" in the ruling Grand Alliance, especially between the RJD and Nitish's JDU.
The RJD leaders, of course did not spare the BJP either, attacking it over remarks by an RSS leader that quota should be done away with, demonetisation and farmer woes.
"It's a question of participating in governance. Our workers are watching in anticipation with thirsty eyes, without blinking. Over one year of the government has gone by, yet nothing has been done for them," RJD vice-president and former Union minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh said in his salvo at Nitish, without naming the chief minister.
Raghuvansh, a vocal critic of Nitish and his policies, took the attack further by pointing at the chief minister's assurance to Grand Alliance workers that a 20-point programme implementation committee will be constituted at district and block levels soon.
"What kind of soon is this? Shall we pray as to when God will alleviate our sufferings? I am petitioning and raising the voice as socialist leader Ram Manohar Lohia used to tell us," Raghuvansh added.
Criticising the condition of education in the state, Raghuvansh asked the audience, full of RJD leaders and workers from different districts, whether proper teaching was being conducted at any place in the state.
He pointed out that many high schools and colleges in the districts were functioning with just two teachers, while famous colleges in Patna and Muzaffarpur were running on just 30 per cent of the total strength of teaching staff.
"Ram Manohar Lohia had asserted that education be provided properly to the poor. They will be uplifted. But here there is no padhai (studies), only kadai (strictness) in examinations. I speak the truth, that too loudly, to raise the voice of the poor," the RJD vice-president said.
However, Raghuvansh was not the only one to indulge in criticism. Former Lok Sabha member and veteran RJD leader Prabhunath Singh pointed out that the party's comrade-in-arms were on the streets despite so many vacant posts in the state.
"Karpooriji advocated participation of political workers in governance and the real tribute to him will be that our party workers are given such positions without delay. Laluji was the true flag-bearer of the ideas of Karpooriji and ensured this during his time at the helm," Prabhunath said. Prabhunath also added that Lalu was the mukhiya of the mukhiya (read Nitish) of the present government.
Reacting to the criticism on the Nitish-led government in the state, Lalu pointed out that he told the chief minister at the meeting of Grand Alliance workers in the presence of the state cabinet on Monday that workers should be given place in the 20-point programme implementation committees at district and block levels, and should be accorded respect by government officials.
"I asked Nitish to announce it that workers of all the three constituents of the Grand Alliance (JDU, RJD and Congress) will get a place in these committees. He was busy in his party's organisational elections and I was also ill for around two-and-a-half months," Lalu said.
The RJD chief said such committees could be constituted at sub-divisional levels too to accommodate party workers. "It will ensure that our workers immediately get a chair to sit if they visit any government office," Lalu added.
Taking on the BJP, Lalu pointed towards the recent remarks of RSS spokesperson Manmohan Vaidya about the need to review the current caste-based reservation policy and said it was a conspiracy to disregard the Constitution of India.
"They are double-faced people. They will say one thing in the evening and deny it in the morning. They don't believe in the Constitution and want to impose M.S. Golwalkar's book Bunch of Thoughts in its place," Lalu said.
"We need to be vigilant over the conspiracy. Similar things were spoken by RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat before the Bihar polls and the communal forces had to return empty-handed from the state. We should ensure the same result in Uttar Pradesh too," the RJD chief added.
Lalu also attacked the BJP on demonetisation and asserted that the move has brought doom in the economy with the GDP (gross domestic product) growth rate falling and the poor losing their livelihood.
Meanwhile, the BJP also celebrated Karpoori Thakur's birth anniversary at its state headquarters and asserted that it was in favour of increasing reservation in government jobs and educational institutions.
"The current 50 per cent reservation limit in the country should be increased to 60 per cent and all political parties should jointly discuss it to arrive at a consensus. The central government should bring an amendment to implement this," senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi said.
