Unsettled by Nitish Kumar flip-flops, JD(U)’s Lalan Singh on shaky ground in Bihar’s Munger

Former JD(U) president Rajiv Ranjan Singh aka Lalan, who is said to have been instrumental in stitching the JD(U)-RJD alliance in 2022, is in a piquant situation these polls. Four months ago, addressing a rally in Munger, his Lok Sabha constituency, Singh had thundered from the stage that the Mahagathbandhan was going strong and that Narendra Modi’s “farewell” would start from Bihar. He went on to do a count of the number of seats the BJP was going to lose in West Bengal, Bihar and other states.

On Friday, Singh was addressing another rally in Munger, this time sharing the stage with Modi. He welcomed the PM as a huge audience looked on, saying that Goddess Chandi had bestowed her “blessings” upon him to win 400 seats. He also said the PM must now teach a lesson to the “corrupt”, but avoided any mention of the RJD.

In fact, when questioned about his challenger from the RJD in a recent media interview, Singh skirted the question, saying he can only talk about his own work.

Apparently, Singh was caught by surprise when Nitish Kumar broke the alliance with the RJD and re-joined hands with the BJP, in January this year. As a voter put it, “Lalan Babu is unable to understand how to campaign. Till yesterday, he was abusing Modi and praising Lalu. Now, he is expected to do the opposite.”

However, if he does sail through, it will be due to the JD(U)-BJP alliance, given the anger against him among a significant section of voters in Munger over his performance during the current term.

“Lalan babu has done nothing for the constituency. Look at Bhagalpur and Begusarai. Both have developed so much. Munger is such an old city, but nothing has been done here. He keeps talking about Chandi Ma, but has done nothing to develop the Chandi-sthan