Laloo is willing, UF plays it cool

But, at the Janata Dal’s daily briefing, the party was non-committal on the question of Laloo’s re-entry into the United Front, saying that it was for the JD’s political affairs committee to take a decision.JD leaders Mohan Prakash and Laloo’s erstwhile colleagues from Bihar, Nawal Kishore Rai and D P Yadav, said that they considered Laloo corrupt. Asked if they thought he was communal, they said that being communal or corrupt were equally bad.

“In any case, there is no such proposal before us,” they said.

At the same time, bickering within the Congress and the United Front seems to have dashedLaloo’s hopes for forming a non-BJP government at the Centre. Yadav, who is camping in Delhi, said he was trying to get all secular forces to unite to keep the Bharatiya Janata Party out of power. “Even at this crucial hour, the RJD is prepared to extend unconditional support to either the Congress or the Front,” Laloo reiterated.

In fact, when Laloo was asked what he would do in case the President invites the BJP to form a government, Laloo said that he would prefer to sit in Opposition till the dismissal of the BJP government.

Asked how he would ensure the magic figure of 273, Laloo claimed the support of 263 MPs of the United Front and its allies and hoped that 16 others, excluding five Bahujan Samaj Party and some Independents, would also extend support in forming a non-BJP government.

However, sources close to Laloo told The Indian Express that Rashtriya Janata Dal MPs had lost all hope of forming a non-BJP government at the Centre.

“Despite all our efforts to ensure that the BJP does not cometo power in New Delhi, there is a bleak chance of getting a breakthrough,” said former Union Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh.

Singh, who had deserted the I K Gujral ministry after Laloo’s removal from the Janata Dal said: “We just can’t cement the ideological differences between the two parties – the Congress and the United Front.” Jai Narayan Nishad, another RJD Member of Parliament, however, preferred to remain silent while another staunch supporter of Laloo said they were fighting a loosing battle. “In a scenario,” said another elected RJD MP, “Where several Front constituents are hesitant to support the Congress in forming the government, several Front leaders face a different situation in preventing the BJP from coming to power.” The problem has been aggravated with differences cropping up in the Congress over the issue of the party making serious efforts to form the government with the support of the Front constituents, he said. Though Laloo denied that his party’s MPs were not with him inhelping form a non-BJP government, sources confirmed it. It was also learnt that at least three of the 17 RJD MPs want to abstain from the House when the BJP will be asked to prove its majority.

“Whoever forms the government at the Centre, no government can dare touch Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi and remove her from office,” the RJD chief said, when asked whether the government in Bihar might be dismissed if the BJP comes to power.