In the normal course, the Bharatiya Janata Party should have been rejoicing over the possible accretion in the strength of the National Democratic Alliance as signified by the coming together of the Janata parivar.Far from that, it has genuine fears that it may adversely affect the fortunes of the ruling coalition. It is now clear that the Karnataka unit of the BJP was not wide of the mark when it rejected out of hand Chief Minister J.H. Patel's original suggestion to join hands with the BJP. Those who thought that the Karnataka leaders had done so out of pique or because they did not want to share seats with the Dal did not, perhaps, recognise the BJP's deep-rooted bias against the JD. That its reluctance to break bread with the JD is due to the fact that it had voted against the Vajpayee government is too simplistic an explanation. Equally fallacious is the assumption that what prompted Defence Minister George Fernandes to bring together the JD, the Samata Party and the Lok Shakti under a commonumbrella is the need to strengthen the NDA. The BJP cannot help seeing in the move an attempt by Fernandes to strengthen his bargaining position vis-a-vis the BJP both for seats and for the spoils of office in case the NDA returns to power. Another worrying point for the BJP is the image of the JD leaders as a quarrelsome lot, difficult to do business with.Having had the bitter experience of dealing with a cantankerous leader like Jayalalitha, the BJP shudders at the prospect of dealing with a party which has split nine times in as many years. If the BJP, which stresses a lot on discipline and cadre-building, has difficulty in working with a fissiparous entity like the JD, it is only natural. More so when Sharad Yadav's decision to align with the NDA, overruling the majority decision of the Political Affairs Committee of the party, is guided solely by selfish electoral interests. It is significant that, apart from realpolitik, the JD leaders have not been able to give even one cogent reason as to why theMandalites should join hands with the Mandirites. Even so the BJP has little option but to accept the baggage that the JD faction represents.The projection that the JD-Samata-Lok Shakti merger will have a profound impact on the voting pattern is overambitious. It's true that in the last Lok Sabha election the Rashtriya Janata Dal in Bihar was able to win half-a-dozen seats, including Madhepura where Laloo Yadav defeated Sharad Yadav, only because of the split in anti-Laloo votes. While bringing Sharad Yadav and Ram Vilas Paswan into the NDA is a shot in the arm for the BJP-Samata combine, the possibility of a Laloo Yadav-sponsored Janata Dal faction remaining in the field as a spoilsport is a distinct possibility.Much the same is true about Karnataka, where too a sizable section of the JD members may not find it comfortable going with the BJP, as is borne out by the churning in the Patel ministry. Besides, there is also the fear of the anti-incumbency vote going against the BJP should it ally with J.H.Patel. If anything, all this points to the fact that the Janata Dal will prove to be more a liability than an asset for the BJP.
