Lalu’s desperation shows at last, when he says Caste, not development, gets votes.

‘‘Ticket bahut soch samajh ke baanta, (have been very careful with tickets),’’ he says, giving examples of how RJD fielded upper castes in certain seats to make the best of caste equations, and instructed the Congress to do the same.

What about the development plank? ‘‘Yahan caste par vote hota hai, vikas par nahin (people vote on caste lines, not on development). ’’ ‘‘It is all about power. They (the upper castes) want to capture power again’’ but ‘‘hamara log power chhorna nahin chahte hain (my people are not prepared to give up power).’’

This messiah not so far in the past used to talk about building a shining Bihar by “educating” the people he represented, had invited businessmen to invest… Karnataka’s own Lalu, Deve Gowda has a history of practising the same brand of politics, claiming to alleivate the poor/underprivileged, lying through his teeth. If the apathy of the “educated” class continues, Karnataka will very soon wrest the crown from Bihar.