Laloo, uninterrupted

As a ploy, it is as disingenuous as it is tested. In Bihar, came a rare confession from Laloo Prasad Yadav, the Rashtriya Janata Dal has fai...

As a ploy, it is as disingenuous as it is tested. In Bihar, came a rare confession from Laloo Prasad Yadav, the Rashtriya Janata Dal has failed to deliver on promises of development. But this time it could be different, he said, while releasing the party8217;s manifesto. This time, it is in government at the Centre, and if RJD is returned to power in Patna, double incumbency is bound to fast-track Bihar to development. It could be a measure of Laloo8217;s helplessness that he finds himself dusting off old poll promises 8212; in fact, the RJD8217;s appeal to the minorities is repeated verbatim from the 2000 manifesto. It is always open season to hold Laloo to account for the wasted opportunities of his party8217;s 15 years in power. The blame for this stale political debate, however, needs to be apportioned a little more evenly.

The forthcoming elections in Bihar have resonance beyond the politics of the state. In the run-up to voting days in February, Bihar is interrogating the two largest parties in Lok Sabha. Bihar8217;s emerging 8212; or desired 8212; social coalitions are demanding clarity from the Congress and BJP in terms of their electoral adjustments. The Congress faces an acute dilemma. It can duplicate the RJD-Congress alliance8217;s success of the May Lok Sabha polls. This would maximise the alliance8217;s numbers in the assembly and retain the UPA8217;s current stability. But it would extract a concession from the Congress that it is a markedly junior partner, that it virtually sees little hope of regaining its traditional vote, especially among the minorities. For the BJP, longstanding ties with the Janata Dal U are being strained. Overtures by Ram Vilas Paswan8217;s Lok Janshakti Party 8212; a constituent of the UPA 8212; to both the Congress and segments of the JDU are churning the alphabet soup in Bihar.

This flux begs fundamental questions from the Congres and the BJP. As the largest national parties, how do they rationalise their electoral alliances in Bihar? As members of competing alliances, what is the agenda they seek to place before voters? They have a choice. They could articulate a more meaningful election campaign, which would be to the benefit of the electorate and which would impose compelling obligations on regional parties like the RJD, LJP and JDU to be less evasive. Or they could merely be led, to their own detriment, in this game of argument by accusation.