Lalu Prasad turns a blogger

Now, Lalu turns a blogger
9 Jun 2008, 0450 hrs IST,Madhuri Kumar,TNN

PATNA: Barack Obama has it. So do Amitabh Bachchan and Aamir Khan. Now railway minister Lalu Prasad has jumped on the blog bandwagon.

But his first blog entry isn't about how well the Indian Railways is doing under him, or even his favourite food roti-dal. It's about the raging Gujjar fire. " Yeh andolan disha hin ho gai hai ...," says Lalu in his very first blog on myPOPKORN.com. "Accepting the demands of the community for scheduled tribe status would trigger similar demands from others, which would lead to a constitutional crisis," he says.

Lalu confirmed to TOI on Sunday that he had turned blogger. " Haan main apne vichar blog ke liye de rahan hoon . Ek de chuka hoon, doosra bhi denewala hoon . Wo log mujhse mere vichar chahte the . (Yes, I am giving my views to the website for the blog. I have already given one and the next will come soon. They had been approaching me and I agreed)," he said over phone from New Delhi. " Are kono truck ya bus se kuch bhejna hai jo koi dikkat hai. Vichar hi to dena hai . (It isn't as if I have to send anything by truck or bus. All they need is my opinion)".

Lalu's blog also has an audio version but the rustic wit that is Lalu's trademark is missing from the entry — it cuts straight to the point.

"Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje is the root cause behind the spread of agitation by Gujjars. She promised reservation in the election manifesto and now she is not keeping her word... No amendments can be made in the Constitution to confer special status to some individuals...," Lalu has said in his blog.

Officials of Digital Media Convergence Limited (DMCL), which built the website, have been after Lalu to join the blog for several months. On May 30, Lalu posted his Gujjar blog, say company officials. DMCL CEO Ishwar Jha said the railway minister could post blogs "according to his will". "Lalu Prasad was very excited about the idea of a blog when he realized that it would help him interact more closely with the people. He readily agreed to post and record his views," said Jha. "In fact, my team was with Lalu on Friday to collect his second blog for the site."

The Lalu blog is already making waves. RJD MP from Patna Ramkripal Yadav said he had heard of the blog but was "yet to speak to Laluji on the issue". Party colleague Shyam Rajak, however, accepted that a Mumbai-based organization had approached Lalu for a blog. "Laluji has given his silent nod for it," he said.

The next blog from Lalu is expected to be on how he has turned the Railways around and become a ‘management guru'," said a DMCL official.