Sharad men up the ante against Paswan in Bihar

The meetings, held on Friday and Saturday morning at the residence of senior JD leader Inder Singh Namdhari, reiterated the demand to remove Ram from the post. And just so that no one was left in any doubt about what/who was at stake, said Ram’s strategy of ignoring “pro-Sharad leaders” was aimed at marginalising the national leader.

Besides Namdhari, others present at the meetings included senior leaders Mangani Lal Mandal, Ram Jeevan Singh, Namdhari and Ram Dhani Singh, who had all walked out of the Sankalp convention and are considered Sharad’s men.

The meetings were an open challenge to Ram as he had, through a communique, taken over all the powers of the core committee into his hands.

Ever since former chief minister Laloo Prasad Yadav split and formed the RJD, a war of attrition has been on between Paswan and Sharad to control the Bihar JD.

Paswan is of the view that as the Yadavs are still more or less with Laloo, the JD should build itself by mobilising the support of Dalits, Scheduled Castes and the Most Backward Classes. He himself has been trying to do this through Ram and his “developmental works”.

The game-plan has obviously not gone down well with Sharad and his supporters, who have even written a letter to Paswan expressing their unhappiness at any such strategies. They charge that Paswan is trying to be Laloo, at least functionally, though he has none of the support base that the former chief minister enjoyed.

Sharad supporters also point out that all efforts to wean away the Backwards from Laloo have so far proved futile, and warn that any move to marginalise their leader in Bihar would have an adverse impact on the future of the JD.

The “core committee” meetings show that the Sharad camp has decided to up the ante now. Its members admit that they are just awaiting a reply to their letter to Paswan on the JD functioning. If he fails to respond, the final plan of action will reportedly be decided.

The Sharad camp is not averse to the idea of roping in H.D. Deve Gowda in their campaign against Paswan and Ram. Namdhari and Mandal even charge that the duo’s “doings” have shattered their efforts for a rapport between party leaders and workers.

“While we are trying to reorganise the party from the grass-roots level,” says a senior partyman and Sharad supporter, “we are faced with the Laloo culture of egoism and individualism.”