Railway Minister Lalu Prasad will find it difficult to please all Indians when he presents his Budget on Tuesday but he needn't try impress his village and his wife's. Lalu's village Phulwaria and his wife and former Bihar chief minister Rabri Devi's village Salar Kalan are just a few kilometres apart. A train line is being built to connect the two villages but the work has sparked a range of reactions in the couple's constituencies. Salar Kalan is in Gopalganj constituency where residents are delighted and Phulwaria is in Lalu's Chhapra parliamentary constituency where people feel short-changed. "This railway line will connect Lalu and Rabri villages. The Railway minister will run a train just for the benefit of his in-laws' village," says Chhapra resident Aslam Ansari. Chhapra has always been Lalu's political strength, electing him to the state Assembly and Parliament every time. But when he took charge of the Railways it was Gopalganj that received the benefits. Phulwaria resident Bhola Singh says Lalu has ignored his own home. "He hasn't done anything for us. The people of Phulwaria voted for him but he has done nothing for us. All the work is done in his wife's constituency," says Singh. Lalu is no stranger to such controversy - he has been accused of bending the rules to provide Phulwaria with helipads, hospitals, roads and a police station when he was the chief minister of Bihar. A new rail line is just another gift. His village is prospering but those who voted him to Parliament have to be content with a rail wheel factory, which was announced with fanfare but is yet to be completed. And there is no use complaining, because as Chhapra resident Ameen Miyan says: "The Railway Minister has warned that if we complain or crib we will be beaten up."
