Lalu shuns 'bad press' on polling day

The otherwise media-friendly and gregarious Rashtriya Janata Dal president Lalu Prasad shunned the media for the entire day on Thursday when polling was held for three Bihar Lok Sabha seats including Pataliputra, which he is contesting.

A sombre-looking Lalu turned up alongside wife and former Bihar chief minister Rabri Devi, son Tej Pratap and a daughter at the polling station on the Veterinary College in Patna where scores from the media were waiting for him since early morning.

Lalu pushed aside some reporters and cameramen of TV news channels. A cameraman, who managed to sneak into the room where the electronic voting machine was placed, was given a dressing-down by an angry RJD supremo.

The man soon rushed out sheepishly. Lalu and his family left for their 10, Circular Road residence soon after and was confined there with close aides all through the day. In the evening, when a battery of media persons descended on his residence after polling concluded, Lalu sent emissaries including union ministers Prem Gupta and Jaiprakash Narayan Yadav, besides state RJD president Abdul Bari Siddiqui to convey to them that he would speak to the media only on May 16 when the election results were out.

Lalu, always a darling of the media, has of late been complaining about getting a 'bad press.'