PATNA - Firecrackers named after Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, his political rival and Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad and his wife and former chief minister Rabri Devi, and Lok Janshakti Party chief Ram Vilas Paswan are selling briskly in Bihar ahead of Diwali.

From Nitish bombs, Nitish rockets to Lalu bombs, engines and rockets, Rabri “charkha”, Rabri “phuljhari” (sparklers) and Ram Vilas bombs are in high demand this year, and as in politics, jostling for supremacy among themselves.

“They are the first preference for people, more popular than those named after film stars and cricket players,” said Rakesh Kumar, a shopkeeper selling crackers at the New Market near the railway station.

Anant, a college student, said fireworks manufacturers have named crackers after Lalu, Rabri Devi, Nitish Kumar and Paswan to cash in on their popularity. “Patna’s wholesale firecracker market is flooded with different varieties of crackers which bear names of these politicians and display their photographs,” he said.

“Lalu bombs are giving a tough time to Nitish bombs in the Patna firecrackers market and in other district headquarters,” added Umesh Singh, another shopkeeper selling crackers here.

Firecrackers named after Paswan are a new entry this year. “It is also in demand,” Wasim Ali, a wholesale agent of firecrackers, said.

Recalling the years when the firecrackers named after Lalu-Rabri brand outsold all others, he said: “The high sales of the Lalu-Rabri crackers were the accepted index of their popularity among the people till a few years ago but now Nitish brand is giving hot competition to them.”

Citing the high sales of firecrackers named after their party chief and his wife, RJD leaders said the couple may have been voted out of power in the state but there seems to be no end to the people’s affection for them. Nitish Kumar has been ruling Bihar for nearly four years but he lags behind in the battle of the brands, they claimed.

Shopkeeper Faizan Ansari said that popular names do help in raising the sale of the items and firecrackers named after these politicians catch the fancy of the customers. Another shopkeeper also said items named after celebrities were raking in good business.

Nitish Kumar’s image of a sophisticated man compared to Lalu’s rough-tough and rural touch has made bombs named after him more popular, Ansari said. “Children, mostly kids, love to buy Lalu bombs than Nitish bombs,” he said.