Just in case

Smaller parties seem to have their task cut out as general elections draw closer. Take Bihar. Given Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and the JD(U)’s growing hold over the electorate, Lalu Prasad Yadav is working on plans to put up a UPA-Left challenge. The idea is to bring the NCP and the CPI under the Congress-RJD-LJP-CPI(M) umbrella that contested the last polls. But Ram Vilas Paswan is not amused. His LJP had contested eight out of 40 seats in Bihar in 2004. Getting the NCP and CPI in the picture could mean a cut in the number of seats the LJP will be allotted. Little wonder then that Paswan has been restrained in criticism of the Nitish Kumar regime despite feelers from the RJD, perhaps in the hope that his soft posture will come handy during the elections.