Laloo to stake claim, skips flight to Delhi

Looking every bit a king without his kingdom, RJD chief Laloo Prasad Yadav today said his party would stake claim to form the new Bihar gove...

Looking every bit a king without his kingdom, RJD chief Laloo Prasad Yadav today said his party would stake claim to form the new Bihar government.

His 75 MLAs shouted a muffled inqilab zindabad as Yadav nominated his wife, Rabri Devi, as the party’s leader in the legislature. The decision was unanimous and the legislature party meeting was over in less than an hour. Not much of the criticism that is being mounted against Laloo from within the party was aired at the meeting.

Laloo said nothing about numbers, or if the LJP would come on board. Compulsions kept him silent on the man of the moment, Ram Vilas Paswan. The only time he came close to attacking Paswan, he held himself back and said, ‘‘I don’t need any certificate for my secular and social justice politics from anyone.’’

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But if this legislature party meeting was meant to send out a signal of his power, it didn’t go that way. His decision to ensure Rabri Devi was made the leader of the much-reduced RJD legislature party was proof that he is more insecure than before. He could not accept the challenge of nominating a Muslim RJD leader which could have dented Paswan’s projection of himself as a protector of the minorities.

It was apparent that Paswan’s tough bargaining from a position of clear advantage has Laloo on his knees. The fact that he did not go to Delhi this evening indicated he would rather wait for Sonia Gandhi to try and persuade Ram Vilas Paswan first. When asked why he would not attend the UPA meeting, he refused to elaborate.

But there could be two reasons why he did not board the evening flight. Laloo Prasad Yadav needed time to gather himself after this debacle. Secondly, his staying away was a mute protest that he would be angry for a long time with the political strategy the Congress had pursued in Bihar.

Laloo has not yet decided when he would meet the governor to stake his party’s claim to form the government.

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He insisted: ‘‘We (including the Congress tally of 10) have emerged as the largest pre-poll combination and the Governor would have to invite us first. Besides, if you go by the single-largest party, then again we are ahead of everybody else.’’

The resolution adopted today read: ‘‘In this election, the party was on one side and everybody else on the other…It seemed every big leader…was fighting not an election but a war against Laloo-Rabri.’’ It was clear the resolution was not so much against the BJP, JD(U) or even LJP, it was against Congress including, Sonia Gandhi. If the Congress cannot convince Paswan, Laloo is unlikely to remain a friend of 24 Akbar Road or 10 Janpath.