Dynasty Watch

It can happen only in Bihar. A Class III employee of the Bihar legislative council gets elected to the council after his services are ter...

It can happen only in Bihar. A Class III employee of the Bihar legislative council gets elected to the council after his services are terminated and is now formulating policy. The person is Subhas Yadav, younger brother-in-law of Laloo Prasad Yadav. While he and his brother, Sadhu, are key players in Laloo8217;s schemes, they are also the source of many of his troubles.

The 1 Anne Marg official residence of Chief Minister Rabri Devi has been witness to much political intrigue. The clout the two brothers wield is so strong that even after being repeatedly embarrassed by them, Laloo cannot dare to shun them. After Laloo, their whims and fancies matter the most. And they don8217;t get along with each other either, often working at cross-purposes; Rabri has to intervene quite often to sort matters.

Rabri is dependent on Subhas for advice while Sadhu does the spade-work for Laloo. Sadhu was adamant on contesting from Gopalganj this time but finally agreed to help Laloo in Madhepura. He controls the RJD muscle powerand is a key operator whom Laloo can8217;t afford to antagonise. The new breed of Yadav politicians who have emerged during the last decade owe their loyalty to Sadhu.

Laloo8217;s over-dependence on the two has irked his family members to such an extent that his own nephew, Nagendra Rai, has defied him and filed his nomination as an independent candidate against the official RJD candidate in Patna. To add insult to injury, he issued an appeal to the voters to teach Laloo a lesson for 8220;playing into the hands of sycophants8221; and even mustered up enough courage to ask Laloo to mend his ways. He has declared that the RJD will bite the dust in these elections.

Son of the elder brother of Laloo, Mahabir Prasad, who works as a peon in the state government, Nagendra is quite angry over being ignored by his uncle. Laloo is annoyed with Nagendra, and a couple of months back, he told a group of reporters that Nagendra had chosen his own lifestyle. 8220;If I rebuke him for that, his father will appear before me.8221;

There isno similar public disapproval of Sadhu though there are several complaints against him. Subhas, too, was involved in an incident with the police over the running of a liquor shop. The police officer who mustered enough courage to tame him had to leave Patna.

Laloo has strengthened his hold on Bihar by nominating all his eligible family members to the legislative council. By virtue of being Chief Minister, Rabri Devi, has got nominated to the council. Sadhu and Subhas are also members of the House.

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Rabri is content with her role as a rubber-stamp Chief Minister and happy bringing up her nine children. She had virtually no role in the selection of candidates and working out alliances. No one expects it to be otherwise; it8217;s Laloo8217;s show all the way.

But she has a role as a campaigner. She stretches her aanchal and begs for votes for her husband, saying his adversaries have framed him and sent him to jail. According to insiders, she is coached by Laloo before she leaves for campaigning. That8217;s howthis dynasty works.

8212; Arun Srivastava