An irrepressible Laloo Prasad Yadav has declared he will give 10 seats to the Congress in Bihar in the February 2005 Assembly elections. ‘‘Not 25’’, as newspapers have reported, he told The Indian Express.The RJD president said the figure had to be very modest since ‘‘that is what the party is capable of winning’’. There are 243 seats in the Bihar Assembly. Laloo’s measly offer to the Congress is likely to trigger off a storm in the state where the local Congress unit is likely to react aggressively. Already, the state unit of the Congress and some of its Central leaders are keen for a tie-up with Laloo’s archrival and LJP leader Ram Vilas Paswan. What is holding the Congress leadership back is the fact that Laloo commands the support of 24 RJD MPs in the Lok Sabha. Besides, Sonia Gandhi has a soft corner for Laloo. Though the Congress won four Lok Sabha seats this year, the equivalent of 24 Assembly seats, many of those Assembly seats are held by the RJD, Laloo claimed. ‘‘The Congress is free to go it alone, or go with Paswan, if it wants. I am going to get a two-third majority.’’ Even RJD leaders concede privately that if the Congress, Paswan and JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar were to come together, they would be a force to reckon with, and push the BJP to the periphery. After 10 years in power, Congress leaders argue, Laloo needs the Congress as much as the Congress needs him. But antagonising him is not a risk that Sonia is likely to take. As a senior Congress leader put it, ‘‘Whether Laloo gives us 20 seats, or 10, or even one, we have to swallow this bitter pill.’’ Caught in the Centre versus state conundrum of coalition politics, the Congress will not jeopardise the Government in Delhi for Patna. Laloo—and this is also true of SP leader Mulayam Singh Yadav—knows the Congress would revive at their expense just as they have grown at the Congress’ expense. As it is, the allies are worried that the Congress is on the upswing. Aware of the Congress’ discomfort, Laloo can declare confidently he has ‘‘laddoos in both hands’’. He is unmindful of the Congress’ sensibilities about his spat with Paswan. He also had an altercation with the Parliamentary Affairs Minister when Ghulam Nabi Azad asked him why he had gone back on a recent decision that a certain issue would not be raised in the House. Though Laloo has said he would not pull the plug in Delhi if the Congress goes it alone in Bihar, he can create enough problems for the coalition. The stability of the Government does not depend only on arithmetic. Once its legitimacy and credibility goes, it can be the beginning of the end. As it is, tension is growing between the Congress and the NCP.
