Rumbling within party throws Lalu off kilter

PATNA: Once RJD’s overarching leader, Lalu Prasad appears to be losing control over his bandwagon. The Yadav boss was taken aback when his factotum Raghuvansh Prasad Singh told reporters that a postpoll tie-up with Congress was possible if the RJD-LJP combine failed to cobble a majority.

Singh, one of RJD’s four Lok Sabha MPs, had said all secular forces must unite to keep communal parties out. Last week, he described the split between RJD and Congress as a blunder. A Union minister in UPA-I , who is also RJD’s vicepresident , Singh was miffed with Lalu’s decision to give 75 seats to Ram Vilas Paswan’s LJP saying it was ‘‘ excess, going by LJP’s strength’’.

Singh seems to have challenged Lalu’s authority, something that was unthinkable during RJD’s halcyon days (1990-2005 ). Significantly, the Vaishali MP got support from RJD’s Maharajganj MP Umashankar Singh, who rebelled and announced he would oppose Lalu’s nominees in the segments under his constituency if they were not recommended by him.

Of RJD’s four LS MPs, three are Rajputs: Raghuvansh, Jagadanand Singh and Umashankar. Lalu, the fourth MP, and once the darling of Congress who is said to have even decided Congress candidates in Bihar, has now become a pariah of sorts for 10, Janpath . AICC chief Sonia Gandhi held Lalu’s 15-year-rule responsible for the mess in her campaign in Kishanganj and Motihari. PMManmohan Singh asked people to give the Congress a chance after 20 years of non-governance.

Until last year, no Congress leader would have dared to cross swords with the mighty Yadav chieftain. Today, he’s telling people, ‘‘ Congress is ignoring us, but it was I who saved the Congress and stood by Soniaji when she was called a foreigner.’’

On Tuesday, Lalu was impelled to distance himself from Singh’s statement and ruled out post-poll alliance with Congress even if there was a hung assembly . He claimed that he had talked to Singh about his statement and that he denied having made it. So, officially, the RJD is back to its stated position: No truck with Congress.

The Congress was quick to react, with one source saying the message for Lalu was on the wall when Congress decided to contest all 243 seats in Bihar . ‘‘ The party has a longterm agenda for Bihar, in which Lalu does not figure,’’ said the source.