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Hegde in serious sulk, big trouble in JD-U

Tara Shankar Sahay in New Delhi

Union Defence Minister George Fernandes' angry outburst at Janata Dal (United) chief Sharad Yadav for admitting Ram Lakhan Singh Yadav into his fold through the backdoor has threatened the party's existence. Many senior leaders kept away from its steering committee meeting on Saturday.

According to well-placed JD-U officials, Fernandes took extreme umbrage when the party chief cleared the Rashtriya Janata Dal member's entry. They said that while lashing out at Sharad Yadav for taking unilateral decisions on important party affairs, Fernandes fumed "if it is Ram Lakhan Singh Yadav today, why not Laloo Prasad Yadav tomorrow?"

The defence minister's ironic comment was not lost on political observers, who said it reflected the lingering uncertainty over the JD-U's future.

"George Fernandes did not attend today's steering committee meeting and neither did Ram Vilas Paswan or Ramakrishna Hegdeji. At this stage of the JD-U's existence, this does not augur well for its survival," a party MP close to the defence minister told rediff.com.

"Ram Lakhan Singh Yadav's hush-hush entry should have been decided by the leadership. This was not done. Georgesahib, a senior party leader, resents this kind of narrow-minded conduct," the MP added.

Sharad Yadav, however, sought to play down the absence of his senior colleagues. Fernandes, he said, had gone to Orissa along with Union Home Minister L K Advani to supervise the cyclone relief operations.

The reporters, however, were not ready to buy this, especially since Hegde and Paswan too had kept away. "Don't read too much into this, it is a storm in a teacup, it will fizzle away," the JD-U chief said.

Sharad Yadav said Hegde, who is the Lok Shakti chief, could not attend the meeting because he had a "prior appointment with Vice-President Krishna Kant." At this cue, JD-U general secretary Mohan Prakash, on direction from his chief, read out a letter which Hegde has reportedly sent, citing why he could not come.

JD-U workers, for their part, pointed out that as former socialists, Hegde was close to Krishna Kant and had been trying to persuade the latter to get Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to include him [Hegde] in the Union Cabinet.

"Former prime minister Inder Kumar Gujral and Vice-President Krishna Kant have met the prime minister to persuade Vajpayeeji to include Hegdeji in the government. The prime minister said he would ring up the Lok Shakti chief soon, but no such phone call came," they said, adding that Hegde threw a fit and decided not to attend the JD-U meeting.

On Friday, Hegde had indicated that he was hurt at the manner in which even the JD-U chief did not push for his inclusion in the government. In fact, he is understood to have told his supporters in the Lok Shakti that they should be ready to wean away from the JD-U.

Significantly, former Karnataka chief minister J H Patel had also recently lashed out at the JD-U for its inability to get Hegde a Cabinet berth.

According to JD-U MPs, Fernandes feels that Sharad Yadav's one-upmanship, as shown by the Ram Lakhan Singh Yadav incident, is designed to strengthen his foothold in the party at the expense of other senior colleagues like himself. So Fernandes is shrewdly using his proximity to the prime minister and the union home minister to blunt the JD-U chief's moves.

"It is unfortunate that the JD-U is becoming a focal point in the National Democratic Alliance not because of positive but negative developments," the party MPs commented.

The JD-U chief's contention today that the Janata Dal, the Samata Party and the Lok Shakti have not yet merged formally into the JD-U because of "technical hitches" was not convincing. He was ill at ease to explain what the technical hitches were, and could only say that for the time being the constituents had decided to function through their steering committees. For instance, he added, the Lok Shakti's executive committee would meet on November 12 to decide on important matters.

Sharad Yadav said his personal views on the Insurance Regulatory Authority Bill could not be different from that of the ruling NDA coalition because he was a Cabinet minister. He did not respond when asked whether he was opposed to the Bofors chargesheet or the economic policies of the Vajpayee government.

Lok Shakti spokesman and JD-U general secretary Raghupati maintained that the JD-U had "not lost the electoral war in Karnataka and I am confident that our party will bounce back."

JD-U general secretary Mohan Prakash, responding to a reporter's query on the non-inclusion of Hegde in the NDA government, said, "We will not react but act on it."

The absence of senior party leaders in the steering committee meeting did not allow important matters to be taken up, Prakash conceded.

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