"But he has excelled as railway minister under the proper guidance of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi. Under him, the Indian Railway has made new strides. He has broken all the records of the last 20 years. This has occurred without raising the passenger fare and freight charge," Digvijay maintained.

Citing official statistics, he said there has been a substantial increase in the volume of passenger traffic and freight carriage. Financially, the railways had a Rs 2,000-crore deficit, but now they are having a surplus of Rs 7,800 crore, Digvijay said.

According to him, Lalu'profile has two sides -- one that veers around his "negative image" and the other that has definitely contributed to his "positive image" as a performing railway minister.

Curiously, during the five-year rule of Rabri Devi in coalition with the Congress, a local coordination committee was constituted to steer the state along the path of progress and development, but it failed to function properly.

"If the secular alliance of the UPA comes to power, the past mistakes would be rectified. If a turnaround can occur in the railways, then why can't it be done in Bihar?" Digvijay asked.

He cited the "achievements" of the state in President's rule under the stewardship of governor Buta Singh and pointed to the work done for the state by the UPA government at the Centre.

"The NDA ignored Bihar's interests. The UPA will take care of the state's interests as it has been doing," the AICC general secretary said.