NEW DELHI, APRIL 19: Rumblings in the fragmented Janata Dal (JD) touched a new peak when party president Sharad Yadav wrote a suo motu letter to President K R Narayanan that it had not taken any decision with regard to the formation of a new government.Differences within the Rashtriya Loktantrik Morcha (RLM) also surfaced when Laloo Prasad Yadav did not participate in a meeting between AIADMK supremo Jayalalitha and Mulayam Singh Yadav, held at the latter's residence. While Laloo is for outside support to the Congress, Mulayam Singh insists on RLM's participation in the government.But political observers were surprised when Sharad Yadav dashed off a letter to Rashtrapati Bhawan after a stormy meeting of the Janata Dal parliamentary party last week and Political Affairs Committee (PAC) on Sunday. The letter said "as and when the party takes a decision on the new government, the same would be communicated" to the President.The JD's communication to the President is a clear indication that it is not only peeved at the instance of CPM general secretary Harkishan Singh Surjeet who is "brokering" a deal with the Congress on behalf of the party but also with former prime minister H D Deve Gowda who is advocating installation of Sonia Gandhi as the prime minister.Interestingly, former Union minister S R Bommai threw his hat in the ring for the post of the prime minister saying how could Deve Gowda alone be considered by the non-Congress secular parties for the post. He met Jayalalitha, Mulayam Singh and others in this regard.When contacted, S Jaipal Reddy, a Lok Sabha MP and senior party leader, said that no decision was taken by the PAC to write such a letter.Party sources say that it was Ram Vilas Paswan who prevailed upon Sharad Yadav to write to the President. The objective is to prevent the entry of 17-member Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) in the Congress-led government.However, party sources also say that ultimately it would help the Congress to keep other secular parties out of the proposed government. Sonia would use JD's letter to keep the RJD out and the RJD hatred towards Ram Vilas Paswan would be used to keep the JD out.In any case, Laloo is not keen to join the government and has reportedly told Mulayam Singh not to complicate the formation of an alternative government.
