Sonia unhappy over Laloo giving peanuts to Congress in Bihar
George Iype in New Delhi
Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Laloo Prasad Yadav may meet with cold vibes from the Congress party since Sonia Gandhi is not enamoured over the alliance with him in Bihar.
The Congress, which exudes a new-found confidence after her campaigning for the party, is not at all enthused at the lion's share of seats the RJD leadership has demanded in Bihar.
As part of the agreement between the two, Laloo Yadav is not willing to give the Congress more than 22 out of the 54 Lok Sabha seats in the state.
Congress sources said Sonia is dissatisfied with the Congress-RJD alliance in Bihar, as Laloo Yadav was indicted and chargesheeted in the Rs 9.5 billion animal husbandry scam.
Thus, at the instance of Rajiv Gandhi's widow, a section of Congress leaders are now looking at Laloo Yadav with disdain. They want Sonia to rope in Laloo's arch-rival Mulayam Singh Yadav's Samajwadi Party to fight the election in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.
"In principle, many Congressmen are not happy over the alliance with Laloo in Bihar," prominent Sonia loyalist and Congress Working Committee member Madhavrao Scindia said in a recent television interview.
Scindia told Rediff On the NeT that he was not against the Congress's alliance with regional parties in various states. "But as a matter of policy, many Congressmen did not want the party to join hands with Laloo Yadav due to his alleged involvement in the animal husbandry scam," he said.
But he said there was no question of the Congress now breaking up its alliance with Laloo Yadav, as it has been clinched some two months ago by party president Sitaram Kesri.
Scindia added that a seat-sharing arrangement with the RJD is being worked out. "However, the Congress will not settle for a handful of seats in Bihar," he stated.
Scindia's words are said to reflect Sonia's feelings, but many in the party believe her strategy seems to be not just to distance from Laloo Yadav, but to ensure that the Congress fights it alone in major states and get a majority at the hustings.
Though the post-Sonia Congress finds itself recharged across the country, most of its top leaders think her strategy for the party to go it alone in major states would not necessarily bring in votes in this election.
Party insiders now say Sonia's decision to pitch the Congress on its own in crucial states caused the party's failure in allying with Jayalalitha Jayaram's AIADMK in Tamil Nadu and former Karnataka chief minister Ramakrishna Hegde's Lok Shakthi in Karnataka.
"Sonia has her own novel ways of managing the party. But I doubt if the Sonia-euphoria can result in votes," a Congress veteran said. Her election tours in the northern states, he said, are not bringing in the expected crowds as witnessed in Ranchi in Bihar on Wednesday.
But Congress sources said Sonia was trying hard to rope in Mulayam Singh Yadav through their common friend Amitabh Bachchan. "Sonia prefers Mulayam Yadav to Laloo Yadav," a Congress leader told Rediff On The NeT.
However, SP general secretary Amar Singh, who is also on the board of Amitabh Bachchan Corporation Ltd, denied that the star is involved in talks between the Congress and the SP.
"There is no need for the SP leadership to stand in veneration before 10, Janpath for a poll alliance," Amar Singh had told Rediff On the NeT last week.
Although Kesri and other Congress leaders have been talking to Mulayam Singh for a poll alliance, especially in Uttar Pradesh, the SP chief is yet to take a decision on it. They now believe the Sonia magic will convince the defence minister whose SP is a formidable force in UP.
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