PATNA, Jan 4: Yet another game plan from Laloo Prasad Yadav to forge an electoral alliance with the Congress has ran into rough weather, with Sonia Gandhi expressing her reluctance to give a clean chit to the Rashtriya Janata Dal chief during her campaign for the Congress.This stance of Sonia Gandhi's has put Congress president Sitaram Kesri in a piquant situation, who is said to be working out strategies to retrieve the situation without alienating Laloo. Sources in the Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee said that close aides of Sonia Gandhi's conveyed her thinking on the matter to Kesri on December 29, and advised him to refrain from pursuing the alliance since she was not in mood to campaign for such a front.The same day, in a counter-move, Kesri summoned the BPCC chief and instructed him to prepare the panel of contestants for all 54 seats. Kesri is said to be working on the strategy of putting up candidates only in constituencies where they have a good chance of winning. The party will not put up candidates where the RJD is in a winning situation. Sources added that even if the party contests all 54 seats, it will have a tacit understanding with the RJD on the stature of the candidates.The sources added that this would be a sort of unannounced seat-sharing arrangement between the two parties. Kesri and his allies in the party strongly hold the view that without an understanding - covert or overt - with the RJD, it will be a tough proposition for the Congress to emerge victorious in the polls.A covert understanding will spare Sonia from facing any embarrassment during the campaign, and silence the charge made by Kesri's critics that he is selling out in Laloo's interests.In fact, on December 28, during the foundation day celebrations of the party, senior Congressmen had suggested to general secretary Tariq Anwar that he find some way out of the mess. The latest move of the party leadership has the advantage that the party, on the surface at least, would not be reduced to the status of a regional party. Though the move to prepare a panel of candidates is being described as a retaliatory step in response to Laloo's decision to ascertain the mood of voters and RJD workers, sources maintained that both parties had started the process of identifying safe seats, only after which they would finalise the lists.Third Front likelyLaloo Prasad Yadav's proposed secular front, which failed twice to take-off, is now expected to be floated tomorrow here and may include the Bahujan Samaj Party, Rashtriya Janata Party, Lok Shakti and other parties, Yadav said in New Delhi on Sunday. Should it be formed, it will be the third front in the elections, the other two being the United Front and the BJP-led combination. Other parties in the front could be Ajit Singh's Bharatiya Kisan and Kamagar Party, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha(S) and Devi Lal-Om Prakash Chautala's Haryana Lok Dal (Rashtriya). Yadav is hoping that this front will have a tie-up with the Congress at the state level and emerge as a strong contender for power.
