Nitish Kumar lays siege to Lalu's bastion

PATNA: Lalu Prasad’s Muslim-Yadav constituency could very well come under siege as his bete noire Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar is making bold moves to outwit him on the minority turf.

On Tuesday, the Mr Kumar announced that the state government will provide life-long pensions to the widows of those who where killed in 1989 Bhagalpur communal riots.

The state government is also planning to press the Centre to announce a relief and rehabilitation package at par with the package announced for the victims of the anti-Sikh riots of 1984.

The Bhagalpur communal riot that claimed more than 1,000 lives has remained a emotive issue for the minorities, and the Nitish Kumar government, when it assumed power in November 2005, made it clear that the previous dispensation failed to properly rehabilitate the riot victims, and was even soft on some of the accused, who were even allowed to go scot-free.

No wonder, the government constituted last year an enquiry commission headed by Justice (retired) NN Singh to probe these issues.