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Posturing continues in Bihar

Tara Shankar Sahay in New Delhi

The National Democratic Alliance and the Rashtriya Janata Dal continued to assert they would form the next government in Bihar though neither still have a clear advantage.

"We, led by my party, are the favourites because we symbolise secularism whereas the NDA led by the communal BJP has been rejected by the people of Bihar," said RJD chief Laloo Prasad Yadav, claiming that the party would stake our claim to form the government tomorrow.

"Oh no, the NDA will form the government in Bihar and I can tell you that we are prepared for it," Sharad Yadav of the Janata Dal (United) told rediff.com at his residence this evening.

"Laloo may say whatever he likes but, then, he is known for making empty noises," Yadav asserted. He said the NDA would have no problem finding a chief minister in Bihar and that the matter was being sorted out now.

But there is some confusion in the NDA ranks over who will be the next chief minister. BJP leaders, including Union Home Minister L K Advani, had indicated that his party would leave the issue to its allies, the Samata Party and the JD(U).

However, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had claimed in Lucknow yesterday that "all option were open".

The NDA's initial confidence had waned a bit and given way to a new realism. Which is why its leaders met today at Advani's residence.

NDA sources told this correspondent that despite the RJD chief's claims that he would form a "secular government" in the state, the ruling alliance was considering ways to trip up Laloo Yadav.

Though the Congress leadership has ruled out supporting the NDA in Bihar, the BJP-led alliance knows that many in the Congress regard consider the RJD as anathema. The parties had come together during the parliamentary polls but had gone their separate ways in the just-concluded assembly elections in the state.

Senior Congress party leader Mohsina Kidwai, who is the party in-charge in Bihar, said that while the party would not support the NDA, it was also clear that the people had voted against the RJD. The party's Bihar unit would critically examine the issue before a decision is taken on supporting the RJD.

But some Congress workers have already warned the high command against having any truck with Laloo's party.

Congress Legislature Party leader Ramashrey Prasad Singh said that supporting Laloo would be tantamount to committing political harakiri in the state.

Similarly, state Communist Party of India leader Jalaluddin Ansari is dead against any deal with the RJD. CPI general secretary A B Bardhan had already indicated yesterday that his party did not favour supporting Laloo's party.

"We are of the opinion that the Bihar political scenario has become a complex one but we will not shift from our basic principles," Bardhan said. However, his statement did not indicate whether his party would, after all, support the RJD in the interest of "secularism".

The RJD's tally of 125 seats is ahead of the NDA's 122, and both are trying their hardest to buttress their claims to power. This puts the Congress, with 23 seats, independents with 15, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha with 12 and smaller players like the CPI, the Communist Party of India-Marxist, and the Bahujan Samaj Party in the enviable position of deciding who rules Bihar.

Assembly Election 2000

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