BackAnti-BJP alliance differs over Lalu Prasad as an ally
While the alliance hinges critically on the RJD chief's vote base, some members fear he could be a potential liability
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New Delhi: With the exit of the Samajwadi Party (SP) from the Janata Parivar alliance in Bihar even before elections have been declared, the contradictions in the grand alliance led by chief minister Nitish Kumar are surfacing and internal tensions developing around a key ally, Lalu Prasad.
While the alliance depends critically on Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Prasad’s impressive vote base, some members fear he could also be a potential liability.
Both the ruling Janata Dal (United), or JDU, and the Congress fear the RJD chief’s emphasis on caste during the poll campaign could upstage the development agenda that the grand anti-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alliance is seeking to make central to its campaign, a problem which has compounded after the SP’s exit.
The absence of Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi at a rally last week in Patna only reaffirmed the belief that Sonia Gandhi’s political heir apparent is not willing to share the stage with Prasad. Similarly, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal, who has come out in support of Kumar, has declined to share the platform with Prasad.
Previously, Kumar and Prasad were bitter state rivals, particularly when the latter was a central minister in the first tenure of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance.
“The Congress party definitely has reservations about Lalu Prasad, the nature of which could either be the caste references or others. But, we have a problem here. If Lalu comes for a rally, Rahul Gandhi won’t. If RJD representatives come at a function, Kejriwal won’t. And if Kejriwal comes for an event, the Congress won’t. It will not send a good message to the electorate and we will end up providing more ammunition to the BJP," said a senior leader of the Janata Parivar.
“Rahul Gandhi will hold several individual rallies for the Congress party in Bihar. There is no plan right now in place where he would address joint rallies. We could look at a joint rally with Nitish Kumar; but at the moment, it looks difficult whether he would address joint rallies with Lalu Prasad," said a senior Congress leader from Bihar, requesting anonymity.
Rahul Gandhi is scheduled to visit Bihar on 20 September but his itinerary is yet to be announced.
Ties between Gandhi and Prasad soured after the former dramatically tore up an ordinance by the then Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) to protect convicted members of Parliament and state legislatures. Gandhi’s condemnation of the ordinance in September 2013 came just a few days before Prasad was convicted in the ₹ 950 crore so-called fodder scam.
This year, Gandhi, ignoring Prasad, an old ally of the Congress, went out of the way to personally greet Kumar on the day he was announced the chief ministerial candidate for Bihar.
Even though Congress chief Sonia Gandhi attended the alliance’s “Swabhimaan Rally" in Patna on 30 August, Rahul Gandhi was conspicuous by his absence, as was SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav. The SP, which does not have a major presence in Bihar, was initially upset at not being given any seats in the Janata-Congress alliance; subsequently, the partners relented and allocated five seats to the SP.
“It was only after our party’s agitation that we were given a few seats. Mulayam Singh Yadav was unanimously appointed the president of the coalition (Janata parivar) but was not even considered when seats were being distributed. His absence was definitely a way of expressing his anger at the alliance," a senior party leader of the SP said.
“The Congress is over-reading the situation. It is an over-conscious move by the party, which once shared power with Lalu Prasad and made him a Union minister. From an image point of view, Prasad is a problem. It is a credibility issue for Nitish because he has opposed Lalu for a fairly long time now and how it (the RJD) fares eventually will depend on how the JDU tactically handles it and decides on seat identification," Jai Mrug, a Mumbai-based political analyst said.
“As long as the final seat allocation is not chaotic, these things may not matter in the long run. The crux is if the two pillars (Prasad and Kumar) are together, it does not matter to the voters. The concern over these developments is justified only to the extent that they want to appeal to the development voters," he added.
Meenal Thakur contributed to this story.
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