Thursday, June 9 2005 11:30 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Patna: After sweet and sour experience of "Laloo Chalisa (Laloo hymns)" and Bollywood's super-flop "Padmasharee Laloo Prasad Yadav", baby-faced Laloo look-alike rubber dolls are now in market.

Priced at Rs 144, Lalooji, in his trademark white khadi and the sleeves of his kurta extending up to his palm and with streaks of white hair falling over its forehead, had initially become a hot item in quite a few toyshops in the State capital but the response of buyers began waning.

But it may have a bumper business in Bihar with Assembly elections round the corner.

Manufactured by Speedage Corporation, Mumbai, the doll has delighted the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) boss Laloo Prasad, who in his inimitable style, claims it is another proof of his popularity among the masses, including children.

He claims since he cannot reach out to every household in the State, these toys can be his representatives even in the countryside.

"See, how popular I am. Sab koi ghar mein le ja kar khel rahe hain (everybody is playing with the toy in their homes".

"Ghar ghar men bharat ke bhavishya rahaten hain...who bachche mere saath khelenge, kudenge...kuchh mujhko patkenge (the future of India lives in every home. The children will play, jump with me and some of them will bang me on the earth)," Laloo says laughingly.

But shopkeepers keeping the toys confides there is not much demand for these dolls. "I have shown this toy to many kids in my shop but they all preferred their Barbie's and building blocks," says a toyshop owner.

But distributors of Lalooji dolls are expecting a bumper business with Assembly elections nearing.

"The sale of the dolls will go up and even politicians have started placing orders to use them as publicity materials," a distributor claims.

"There is a craze for Lalooji and we will definitely have good business as everyone who comes to our shop takes note of it. Even if they don't buy it, they admire it," says Pradeep Jain, owner of Khushi Sports and Toy Shop.

Meanwhile, Laloo's rivals, as usual, dismiss the doll - Lalooji - as a gimmick. "Gimmick, pure gimmick. But Laloo knows his fate for sure, he himself fears that even little children will bash up in every house. That's what awaits him now," former State Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Gopal Narayan Singh quips.

Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee (BPCC) spokesman Prem Chandra Mishra, on the other hand, says there is nothing wrong in sale of these toys.