Lalu Yadav Has Become Lump In The Throat Of Mahagathbandhan

Has RJD Chief Lalu Prasad Yadav become the proverbial bone in the throat of ruling coalition partners in Bihar? If the sinister implications of the recent punitive actions against Yadav and his family are any yardstick to gauge the situation, the answer may be in affirmative.

With Supreme Court’s ruling to set aside Jharkhand High Court order of staying the partial trial against Lalu Prasad Yadav in cases pertaining to the infamous fodder scam and a major crackdown against Yadav and his high-profile family members by the Income Tax department, the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate, the JDU that is heading the coalition Government in the State is in a quandary to deal with the situation.

The crisis poses a possible threat of imposition of Central rule in the State.

JDU President and Chief Minister of Bihar, Nitish Kumar is said to be under immense pressure to dispense with the RJD. He is said to have received a virtual ultimatum from the Centre to do away with Lalu Yadav or face the music.

If sources privy to Kumar are to be believed, the Centre has contended that since Deputy Chief Minister of the State, Tejashwi Yadav (Lalu’s son) is in the dragnet of the investigating agencies, the Centre has kept its options open to impose President’s Rule in the State in case the court takes cognisance against him.

Consequently, the Chief Minister is said to have asked Lalu Yadav to persuade his son and Deputy Chief Minister of the State, Tejeshwi Yadav to step down in the larger interest of his Government. Sources informed that the CM was of the view that if the junior Yadav refused to quit the post on moral grounds now, he would have to step down to comply with the possible prosecution order by the court later and that would be more embarrassing for both the Government and RJD as well.

Although the RJD Chief assured the CM that he would discuss the issue by convening an emergency meeting of his party, he could neither afford to ask his son to quit the plum post that he (Lalu Yadav) has been enjoying by proxy nor can he ignore the eventual threat of losing power if President’s Rule is imposed in the garb of retaining a tainted Deputy Chief Minister in the Government.

In the crucial meeting of RJD that was convened on July 10 to decide the fate of Tejashwi Yadav, the party leaders, however, remained unanimous and came out with the decision that the junior Yadav would not resign. As such, the ball is now in the court of Nitish Kumar who has proposed to convene a meeting of the JDU to discuss the issue. The Chief Minister is presumed to have made up his mind to part ways with the RJD in order to ward off the possible wrath of the Centre.

However, Lalu Prasad Yadav – who has recently been in controversy either for playing a dubious role to amass wealth through ‘soil scam’ or influencing Government machinery at the behest of jailed muscleman Shahabuddin – in Bihar is struggling hard to invoke his popular base by calling upon people and his party cadres to make his proposed rally against the BJP a grand success and claimed solidarity among partners of the ruling Grand Alliance of JDU-RJD-Congress combine.

Lashing out at the BJP for the actions against him by the central investigating agencies, Yadav claimed that it was a well-hatched conspiracy to divide the Grand Alliance.

Although the Congress showed its solidarity and pledged to stand by Yadav and his family, JDU preferred to remain non-committal and is mulling ways to salvage its credentials. The Congress is said to have been left with no option except to withhold its on-going tirade against the alleged rampant corruption of the Kejriwal government in Delhi in particular.

The party National Spokesperson, Ajay Maken was quick to condemn the alleged graft charges against Kejriwal by his sacked minister Kapil Mishra a few months back and demanded Kejriwal’s resignation. Incidentally, with the SC order that reopened the fodder scam case against RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav by setting aside the stay order of the Jharkhand High Court and subsequent crackdown by investigating agencies against his family members, the beleaguered Congress party chose to remain tightlipped over the Kejriwal’s ouster too.

Similarly, the ruling JDU that was voted back to power in Bihar with substantial margin of votes in the garb of providing good governance has been put in a quandary over the issue of continuing with the RJD as a coalition partner. JDU Supremo and Chief Minister of Bihar, Nitish Kumar is, however, contemplating counter-offensive steps against his adversaries to keep the alliance intact.

Incidentally, the BJP is supposed to use the punitive action against Lalu Yadav to the hilt for political gains and question the moral values of Nitish Kumar who had spearheaded an anti-Lalu stir in the past in the backdrop of fodder scam case.

Daring Nitish Kumar, Union Minister and BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said “It is shocking. His silence baffles us. He was one of the prominent persons who led agitation against the fodder scam. Will he compromise it to save his position? Why is he silent on this historic judgement of Supreme Court?”

To top it all, Nitish Kumar preferred to remain tightlipped over the present political crisis in the State. Sources privy to the JDU high command, however, claimed that secret parleys were on to explore amicable strategies to part ways with the Yadavs.

 Although it now sounds unrealistic, the JDU leadership is claimed to be in touch with different regional political parties across the country in order to explore possibilities to form a new party under the leadership of Nitish Kumar before the ensuing Lok Sabha polls in 2019. Interestingly, with the formation of the new party, JDU will lose its nomenclature to the proposed conglomeration of different regional political parties.