RANCHI: RJD president and former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad on Monday said that the Nitish Kumar-led JD(U), which is in power in the neighbouring state, should have shown the courage to contest the coming by-elections in Bihar and not thrown in the towel. The polls for Araria parliamentary constituency and the Bhabua and the Jehanabad assembly seats are scheduled to take place on March 11.Talking to mediapersons after appearing in a fodder scam case, Lalu said: "JD(U) does not have strength to face the voters. The Nitish government is corrupt and a number of scams have taken place in the state. Nitish is also an accused in a murder case, for which court has taken cognizance. BJP used these factors to force Nitish to break its alliance with RJD and form a government in Bihar with it."Meanwhile, tickets-seekers for the by-elections in Bihar flocked to the civil court to meet Lalu on Monday. Many of them tried to touch Lalu's feet while other just tried to catch his attention while he was being taken to the court and back.Among them was Taluka Devi , wife of the deceased RJD MLA Munrika Yadav from Jehanabad. While proceeding towards the court, Lalu called her and spoke with her briefly. Her son described the meet as a courtesy call, but sources say the family is hoping for a ticket in the coming bypolls. Suday Yadav, the elder son of the late Mundrika Yadav, who passed away in October 2017, said he has visited 80% of the villages in the constituency in the last 45 days. "The parliamentary party will take a decision on the issue," a family member said.

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