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Patna, Jun 16: After the runaway success of 'Lalu Prasad Pitchkari, 'Lalu Prasad Gulal'(colour) and'Lalu Prasad branded fire-crackers', among several other popular items, now it is the turn of 'Lalu Mango' to win the hearts of the people in Bihar. The magic of 'Lalu brand', associated with a large variety of products including as diversified as chocolates, cola and 'sattu' apart from fire-crackers, pitchkari(sprinklers) and gulal during the holi festival last year, had literally done wonders in terms of their sales figures in the state, thanks to the huge popularity of the colourful Railway Minister among the local masses in his home state.

Encouraged by the success of the uniquely branded products and the huge financial gain, a section of bulk traders here have now renamed the local Digha variety of mango as 'Lalu mango' and started selling them through the local wholesellers and other traders in that name with a sticker pasted on each of them. The innovative marketing strategy met with instant success as the local people scrambled for the new variey of the delicacy as soon as it hit the market and started buying them in bulk at the rate of Rs 35 a kg. Since the Railway Minister is also the supremo of RJD, it so happened that national spokesman of the party Shyam Rajak gifted 61 baskets of 'Lalu mangoes', with picture of Mr Prasad pasted on top of each of them,on his grand 61st birthday celebration here on June 11 to the amusement of all present there.

Each of hundreds of party supporters who had assembled at Mr Prasad's house to greet him, was also gifted with a piece of 'Lalu mango'.

Meanwhile, as the demand for 'Lalu Mango' is soaring in the local market ''beyond expectation'', a section of traders is now even toying with the idea of exporting the 'new variety' to several other states including West Bengal, Jharkhand, New Delhi and Maharashtra, where a large number of Bihari denizens reside. This is not new that mangoes depicting Lalu's picture has become the cynosure of consumers. Earlier 'Lalu Khaini','Lalu Sattu', 'Lalu Chocklates' and 'Lalu Cola' had also did a brisk business and were sold like hot cakes, particularly, among the party supporters across the state.