Bihar Cong all set to break ties with Laloo

Sources in the Congress maintain that the Congress high command, ever since Salman Khurshid’s stock-taking exercise, has been serious about re-evaluating its relations with the RJD. Of late, the central leadership had even instructed its state leaders to keep the heat on. Sources maintain that the high command has also not been in the mood to go along with Laloo Prasad but was simply waiting for the right moment.

Laloo provided the opportunity by denying the ministries held by Congress ministers who moved to Jharkhand to those Congress ministers who remain in Bihar. Instead, those portfolios were given to his RJD ministers. The state Congress leadership was naturally upset, to say the least.

Senior Congress leaders had even said that “Laloo has taken our support for granted. He was using Congress for refurbishing his public image”.

The buzz in Congress circles indeed was that Laloo had used the party to maintain his position in national politics and gain respectability in the wake of his involvement in the fodder scam and disproportionate assets charges that he and his Chief Minister wife Rabri Devi are facing.

However, Congress sources maintain that even senior central ministers were not in the mood to continue the alliance any more. BPCC chief Shakeel is mentally prepared to end the alliance. Party sources reveal that he may announce the party’s decision as early as tomorrow.

Laloo, though, has not been resting easy either. He promptly withheld the notification of the reallocation of portfolios and contacted senior Congress leaders. He even met Shakeel and has reportedly urged him not to take such a drastic step.

The mood in the Congress camp, however, is one of desperation and party leaders are just waiting for the high command’s word on the issue. “Anything can happen,” a senior Congress leader said, “We are just watching the situation and awaiting the high command’s directive with our fingers crossed.”