For Advani's rally, JP's birthplace finally gets electricity

Electricity has finally reached Sitabdiara village, the birth place of legendry socialist leader Jayaprakash Narayan, 64 years after independence.

Thanks to Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani launching his anti-corruption yatra from this village in Bihar's Saran district, it has finally received an electrical connection.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday inaugurated a power project, barely two hours before he is scheduled to flag off Advani's yatra.

"Electricity was a dream for us, it has been fulfilled today," said Suresh Singh, a villager.

"We were forced to live in the lantern age till yesterday. But electricity will usher in a major change in the village," said another villager Kundan Kumar.

Some villagers are now hoping that Kumar will deliver on his promise of building better roads in the area.

"Another one of our dreams will be fulfilled if the roads around our village are properly built," said Birender Prasad.

Sitabdiara has been making headlines since Advani announced his decision to launch his Jan Chetana Yatra from this village.

But incessant rains in the area have left the roads water-logged. Thanks to the inhospitable roads around the village, Advani will not be able to board his high-tech rath at Sitabdiara.

Instead, he will visit JP's house to pay his respect.

Mahesh Kumar, a young villager, pointed out that shifting the main programme from JP's village Sitabdiara to Chpara itself revealed the story of neglect the village had faced from successive governments.

"The road leading to the village is so bad that ruling BJP leaders failed to make it motorable for Advani's rath yatra," Mahesh told rediff.com.

BJP leaders have tried their level-best to hide the ground reality and the road leading to JP's house has been decorated with lights and welcome arches.

Sribhagwan Mallah, the caretaker of Jayaprakash Narayan's house, has a different take on the issue.

"It is unfortunate that JP's village and his house have been forgotten by one and all. This village is in the news now only after Advani announced his rath yatra," said Mallah.

He added that JP's house was in a bad state and so was the condition of the village.

Of the five rooms in JP's house, two had collapsed due to lack of funds for maintenance and the remaining three were in an advanced stage of decay, informed Mallah.

According to local BJP leaders, JP's house had not been renovated as it was waterlogged.

Earlier, Advani's rath yatra was supposed to be flagged off by Nitish Kumar from Sitabdiara. But in view of the bad roads and water-logging, the rath yatra was shifted to Chapra.

Now, Advani's yatra will be flagged off at the airport ground in Chapra.