Congress' call unanswered

Congressmen have not yet forgotten former rural development minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, even after the UPA government at the Centre booted out his party — Lalu Prasad’s RJD. As Bihar goes to the polls, Congress peace-brokers knocked on Singh’s doors with lucrative offers for shifting loyalty. The Congress had given a ticket to his cousin, Raghupati, from a constituency in Vaishali district and was even ready to project Singh, who had played a key role in rolling out the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, as the party’s candidate for the chief minister. But Singh refused and is happy with his existing relationship with Prasad in the latter’s backyard.