• If Mulayam Singh Yadav is chosen as the Opposition’s consensus PM candidate, would your party support him? Vinod YadavThe question is hypothetical. After the results come out on May 13, all the secular parties will sit together and decide on the leader. This is the position most parties, including the Rashtriya Janata Dal, has been maintaining.• Why does the RJD nominate an underworld don like Mohammed Shahabuddin, who’s serving a prison term at present, as its candidate? Does the party lack decent leaders? Jayanti PatelI am unable to understand why everyone is bothered about only one Shahabuddin. There are many people like him across the country. When he won the elections first, Shahabuddin was not in our party. There is no dearth of decent leaders in our party — am I not decent?• Criminals as candidates, booth-capturing, poll violence all seem to be the traits of Bihar politics. And as long as the RJD, as the ruling party, continues to lead this trend, Bihar will continue to be governed by Jungle Raj. Please comment. Mahesh BansinghaniThis is not only Bihar’s political character. Booth-capturing is happening in Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh. To always associate booth-capturing with Bihar is a conspiracy to malign the State.• RJD chief Laloo Prasad Yadav was reported to have said that his party would win all the 40 Lok Sabha seats from Bihar. If this is so, then why is he contesting from both Chhapra and Madhepura? Isn’t he confident of being elected from one seat alone? Jata Shankar JhaNo party would say it is losing any seat. Such talk is necessary to keep the morale of the workers high. Laloo had no insecurity about any seat. He will win both seats. Isn’t Nitish Kumar contesting two seats?• In Elections 2004, Chhapra witnessed one of the worst poll violences, so much so that the Election Commission has had to intervene and order an enquiry. Are you so insecure about Laloo defeating Union Minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy that you had to resort to this massive poll-rigging? S SinhaPoll rigging in Chapra is a false charge. There were 15 officials of the Election Commission in Chapra. None of them complained of any irregularities. Nor did the District Returning Officer. Attempts to intimidate voters were made by Rudy’s supporters — two of them were killed the previous day when the bombs they were making exploded.• Under the RJD rule, crime has increased and development has stopped in Bihar. Why? K KasturiIf such allegations are true, people of Bihar would not have voted the RJD repeatedly to power. People of Bihar are satisfied with the work of the RJD Government and that is the reason why they continue to support our party.• Your party supports Sonia Gandhi for prime ministership, but she never came to Bihar to campaign. Please comment. Mayur Shekhar JhaLaloo and Rabri were sufficient to take care of the alliance’s campaign in Bihar. This enabled Sonia Gandhi to devote more time to other parts of the country which are crucial.
