Congress and Lalu Prasad see virtue in an alliance after five years

NEW DELHI: As Congress and RJD see virtue in an alliance after a five-year break-up, analysts say it is a case of the duo rediscovering political commonsense in time of political distress. Yet there is realisation in rival camps that the possible revival of a RJD-Congress-LJP alliance could re-write the ground rules on electoral supremacy in Bihar, where BJP and JD(U) stand irreversibly split.

The two sides had undermined their political coexistence by two abrasive ‘acts of nonsense’: The first one was scripted by Lalu Prasad on the eve of 2009 Lok Sabha polls when he unilaterally offered the Congress just three Lok Sabha seats and provoked the AICC to pronounce political talak on RJD.

The second one was when Rahul Gandhi recently said the ordinance to protect convicted politicians was nonsense and deserved to be torn and dumped in the rubbish bin. Wiser by their electoral setbacks the two parties seem ready for an alliance.




Even before the alliance could be announced, senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley tweeted, taking potshots ar Congress and Lalu Prasad: “What a paradox – Congress supports Kejriwal in Delhi and Lalu in Patna,” said a tweet from Jaitley on Thursday. While exposing Congress’ double standards in parading support to Kejriwal’s ‘clean politics’ and tying up with Lalu Prasad at the same time, Jaitley also highlighted how hollow Rahul Gandhi’s act of rubbishing the ordinance for shielding convicted legislators was.

However, AICC General Secretary Shakheel Ahmmed returned the compliment to Jaitley: “Just see how Narendra Modi and Arun Jaitley are saluting Anna Hazare for fasting for Lokpal even as the two BJP leaders work over-time to bring Yeddyurappa back to BJP and Om Prakash Chautala back to NDA from jail. It is not paradox but a show of consistency in BJP’s double standards on corruption and opportunism,” Ahmmed said, making it clear that BJP had no moral right to point fingers at his party. Congress and Lalu Prasad have been working behind the scenes for the past several months for reviving their pact.

On October 22, ET had reported about Congress’ Bihar leaders asking the high command to revive the Congress-RJD-LJP pact and that AICC would wait for the Parliament session to end to unveil its plan.

On Wednesday, hours after Parliament adjourned sine die, Lalu Prasad spoke in Patna about receiving a call from Sonia Gandhi on his release from jail, even as Congress leaders in Delhi privately spoke of revival of the triangle pact in Bihar for the Lok Sabha polls.

The advocates of this alliance calculate that the pact would unite Yadavs (12%), Muslims (16%) and Paswan Dalits (7%).

“Our interest in Congress is to ensure that Muslim votes will not be divided,’ said a RJD Member of Parliament.

Congress thinks its tie-up with Lalu Prasad will also foil BJP’s bid to woo a section of Yadavs. Incidentally when RJD-Congress-LJP fought together in 2004, they won 29 out of the 40 seats in Bihar.

Only when the triangle alliance disintegrated did BJP-JD(U) win both the assembly and Lok Sabha polls.

Demands of politics dictate the coming together of RJD, Congress and LJP, but the formal announcement of the alliance would be made only after a seat-sharing agreement among the three is finalsied.

RJD would like to contest more than 25 seats, while Congress would bargain for more than 10, LJP would at least ask for 5, while NCP’s Tariq Anwar is also expected to be accommodated.

Analysts feel though Kumar’s projected development plank may garner around 20 per centof non-Yadav OBC votes and 6 per cent non-Paswan Dalit votes, a Congress-RJD-Paswan pact will turn the main fight between this alliance and BJP, which has the backing of upper castes.