NEW DELHI, Dec 10: Laloo Yadav may have the last laugh as far as the Janata Dal is concerned though it remains to be seen if he gets the better of the Bharatiya Janata Party in the coming electoral battle.The peace feelers from the Janata Dal to Laloo in the last two days only go to show what a weak wicket the JD finds itself on. S R Bommai's ``welcome home'' to those who were thrown out of the party or left of their own volition is only the tip of the iceberg of where the party stands.The process of the breakup of the JD into regional formations continues. In Bihar, it is Laloo's RJD that matters, in Orissa a Kalinga JD is taking shape and in Karnataka, the party is pulling in different directions.Following the deliberations by its Political Affairs Committee, the Janata Dal is learnt to have proposed the reunification of the JD and RJD with the following bait: that Laloo become the chairman of the Janata Dal's PAC and he along with party president Sharad Yadav be the final authority in distributing party tickets.Laloo has already conveyed his equivalent of a ``No, thank you.'' He is ready to forget and forgive everyone except Sharad Yadav and Ram Vilas Paswan. Sharad must quit the JD presidentship, Laloo has insisted. He is even prepared to accept Bommai as JD president if he cannot be reinstated as party chief that is.Both Sharad and Paswan were reportedly party to the decision to extend an olive branch to the RJD chief. It was H D Deve Gowda who had serious objections to Bommai's formulation. The former Prime Minister's bugbear is not Laloo but Ramakrishna Hegde. Paswan is learnt to have sought Laloo's assistance in his constituency in Hajipur and sought the help of some Congress leaders to work out a compromise.However, the RJD has been particularly cut up with Paswan and Sharad for demanding that President's rule be imposed in Bihar following the recent Jehanabad massacre of 61 people. RJD working president Ranjan Yadav says angrily, ``These leaders did not demand President's rule in Uttar Pradesh when Mulayam Singh Yadav made a case for it in the Cabinet and in the United. Front saying that 200 of his workers had been killed during the BJP-BSP regime. Nor did they ask for President's rule in Manipur even though 1,000 people have been killed in the state since July this year. Their demand for Central rule in Bihar is politically motivated and is nothing but pressure tactics to safeguard their seats.'' So far, Laloo has been unrelenting, too, even though the JD can have a nuisance value in different constituencies. He is tying up with small parties like Chandra Shekhar's SJP, Ajit Singh's BKKS and the BSP which incidentally did not add up to much in the last elections. This time around, Laloo hopes to gather together every percentage point of votes in what will essentially be a straight contest with the BJP-Samata combine.The RJD is likely to contest 38-39 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar. Laloo may leave 10 out of the 54 seats for the Congress, four for the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (Soren) and maybe one for Chandra Shekhar's party. Anand Mohan Singh has also met him but things have not yet been sewn up with the Rajput leader though Laloo is throwing his net wider this time. He is particularly wooing the Rajputs. His election slogan will be social justice and giving the poor their due and not just reservation for the OBCs.
