Patna: Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav who was never far removed from the political centre stage for over three decades has met his Waterloo. The mauling in the Bihar elections has potentially finished off the career of the man who emerged as the unquestioned leader of weaker sections of society in the 1990s.

Yadav's fortunes had begun receding after his party was marginalised at the national level in last year's Lok Sabha elections. Observers say the RJD chief himself is responsible for this situation. While in power he never cared about development while his rivals, in just five years, have tried their best to extend benefits of development schemes to almost every section of society.

During its tenure, the Nitish Kumar government implemented 50 per cent reservation to women, distributed around two million cycles to schoolchildren, constituted a new constituency of extremely backward castes and launched vocational schemes for Muslim women but the Yadav remained busy doing just caste arithmetic.

Even during the month-long poll campaigning, the RJD chief and his ally continued lampooning the chief minister and his policies which, observers said, didn't go down well with voters.

Observers said the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government built up basic infrastructure, constructed some 8,000km of roads, improved health care facilities across the state and restored the rule of law, earning chief minister Kumar a big following.

The improvement in the law-and-order situation, in fact, seemed to have clinched the issue. This can be underlined from the fact that the chief minister focused his campaigning on reminding the voters about how Bihar would slip once again into "dark age" if the RJD won a mandate. Ultimately, the masses chose to go with the NDA.

Unlike his precedessors, Nitish Kumar gave people hope, communicating his vision of a new Bihar.

"The people wanted growth and they saw that happening under Nitish's government. That is why they have voted for him. People are sure he will take the state forward,' said Sunil Kumar, a lawyer in Patna, echoing a widespread sentiment.

After 15 years of under-achievement under Lalu Prasad and Rabri Devi, Nitish Kumar's focus on re-establishing law and order and infrastructure in Bihar has clearly worked.

— With inputs from IANS