Lalu also spoke about the Mandal Commission and implementation of its recommendations. "I have been charged with giving rise to casteism.

During the last polls, it was I who gave a call for all Biharis to unite for the development of the state." He said there are more professors (sic) in Bihar than the entire country.

"But when I tried to rectify this flawed system of promoting teachers to the post of professor, I was charged with looting Bihar.

The media carried reports that I used to make the chief secretary prepare `khaini' for me and that I threatened to hang him from the fan," he said.

The university teachers are demanding that their retirement age be increased from 60 to 62. "Why not for whole life?" he asked, stressing that the younger generation should be given an opportunity.

Speaking about non-aided education policy, Lalu said there were 3000 colleges which were demanding to be taken over. "Already two third of our budget is being spent on education," he said.

He disagreed with a speaker that nothing was done for developing irrigation facilities during the last 15 years. "I had inherited a state which had deficit foodgrain. Today Bihar has surplus foodgrain," he said.

Speaking about dilapidated roads, he berated fund crunch and recurring floods. "I wish CM Nitish Kumar well and will not speak against his government for three months," he said.

Lalu rejected the charge that he was responsible for migration of labour from Bihar. "Was I alive when our forefathers migrated to Mauritius?" he asked sarcastically.

He also refuted the charge that his regime was responsible for growth in extremism. "Extremism is the fallout of feudal mentality.

Not only people do not pay minimum wages to the downtrodden classes, they don't even talk to them in a decent manner. The anger has to come out," he said.

He said he has believed in political empowerment of the downtrodden. "I had to pay the price (of losing power) as many of these sections were not willing to wait while making a bid for political power," Lalu said.