‘RJD will slash cooking gas cylinder prices by Rs 700’

The star campaigner of Opposition INDIA bloc and former deputy chief minister of Bihar Tejashwi Yadav has been aggressively addressing public rallies aiming to dethrone the central government in this general polls He has been able to pull crowds in his rallies where downtrodden people including women young old and even preadolescents are coming to listen to the 34yearold son of Rashtriya Janata Dal RJD supremo Lalu Prasad YadavTo date he has managed to address backtoback more than 250 rallies in this Lok Sabha election in different states The RJD national spokesperson Manoj Kumar Jha told midday that itrsquos the highest number of election rallies so far ldquoDespite being unwell Tejashwiji has been addressing public rallies in this electionrdquo Jha told middayLachiya Devi Kamla Devi Lalti Devi Parvati Devi and Kanti Devi from Ajda Village to complain to senior leaders about the problems they faceItrsquos often wondered ldquowho are these peoplerdquo coming to listen to Tejashwi whose popularity is growing by the day Meanwhile there were a few people who had come only to see the helicopters in which the political leaders landedOn Monday Tejashwi and Rahul landed in their helicopters to seek votes for Pataliputra Lok Sabha constituency Misa Bharti who addressed the crowd saying ldquoNo promises made by the central government were fulfilled Bihar has been in dire need of a special package but no special status has been granted by the Centre to date Also no sugar mill in Bihar has been reopened as promisedrdquoldquoIf you vote for RJD we will reduce the gas cylinder price from existing Rs 1200 to Rs 500rdquo uttered Bharti to the cheering crowd at the rally ground in Paliganj on Monday in the presence of Rahul Gandhi midday spoke to a number of people in the audience Most of the people present at the rally ground were annoyed with the false promises made by the BJPled NDA leaders in the past elections Even the women expressed dismay as their children remained unemployed The students too voiced their discontentAn RJD supporter at the rallyldquoPrime Minister Narendra Modijirsquos government is hollow from within He had promised 2 crore jobs every year he had promised to bring back black money and credit R15 lakh in everyonersquos bank account and many other promises were made Why these promises were not fulfilled Later the government said that it was lsquopolitical jumlarsquordquo said 57yearold Babuanand Kumar a former mukhiya from Jarkha panchayat at Noorchak VillageldquoWhy should we believe in what he is saying today Tomorrow he will mock the public saying that it was a political jumlahellip so it is better to support Mahagathbandhan At least they are not making any communal speeches with saffron brigades I have come here to listen to our leader Tejashwi Yadav who has promised jobsrdquo Kumar saidSudarshan Ram 54 is a labourer ldquoI studied up to Std 12 but later had to give up my education as my father was a poor man The current central government has done nothing for the poor peoplehellip please come and see the conditions we are living in Why hasnrsquot the central government done anything to improve our living standards How will our children complete their education I am standing here today in the support of Mahagathbandhan and we will vote for RJD leader Misa Bharti because the sitting MP Ram Kripal Yadav never visited our villagerdquo he saidRam Bir Yadav farmerldquoThe drainage system in our village has been in a bad shape for decades There is no hospital close to Noorchak Village The nearest hospital from our village is 20 km away in Paliganjhellip one can imagine how difficult it is for us to take an ailing person or a pregnant woman to hospital when the road is bad Why is the central government not doing anything for our villagerdquo Ram wonderedA group of young students came to Paliganj from the adjacent LS constituency only to see Rahul and listen to Tejashwi ldquoI am pursuing my graduation and aiming to get a job in Indian Railways We are pinning high hopes in RJD this time because he Tejashwi has promised us jobs The central government has ditched the countryrdquo said Deepak Kumar 16A 19yearold Bipin Kumar said ldquoThe prime minister is in his 70s but still he is fighting to retain his post But in contrast he wants lsquoagniveersrsquo to retire after four years of service I am preparing for defence but what will I do four years down the line at the age of 24 years Naturally I will look for another option It is the reason I want Mahagathbandhan to win this general electionrdquoA 64yearold farmer from Dariyapur Ram Bir Yadav said ldquoThis time Yadavs in the Paliganj area are poised to withhold their support from the incumbent MP Ram Kripal Yadav It seems he is headed for electoral defeat with RJDrsquos Misa Bharti poised for a sweeping victory instead Yadav is not meeting his party workers in Paliganj He is losing this seat because there is no developmental work in his constituencyrdquoMeanwhile an elderly lady Lachiya Devi and her neighbours headed to the rally ground from their village so that they could narrate their painful ordeal caused by the deteriorating living conditions ldquoI have been residing in a thatched roof hut which gets destroyed every year during monsoon No one in my house is employed and it is really difficult I was told that top leaders are arriving here in their helicopters to address a rally So I am here to tell them about my pain But will these leaders meet me and listen to our problemsrdquo asked the woman from Ajda Village PaliganjldquoThe politicians come and go every election but our living conditions have not improvedrdquo she added Another elderly woman Kamla Devi said ldquoWe run the house by sharing the farming land We have no jobs Who cares for poor peoplehellip the politicians and their foot soldiers visit us only during elections and later they disappear until the next poll dates are announced There is no hospital in the village Also the school is only up to Std 8 Who will improve the conditions of our Ajda villagerdquoA group of middleaged men had come from Mungila Village Imamganj ldquoThe electorate from rural areas is in absolute support of RJD this time Misa Bharti is going to have a landslide victory with a margin of at least 2 lakh votesrdquo said Vinod Yadav