Why Pappu Yadav backs Manjhi in the battle against Lalu-Nitish duo
As Lalu Prasad stood next to Nitish Kumar in the atrium of Patna Raj Bhawan on Monday afternoon, assuming they were on the verge of power, the swiftly shifting sands of Bihar politics exposed a massive chink in his political armour.
Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav, one of the four RJD MPs in the Lok Sabha, has decided to back Jitan Ram Manjhi much to the chagrin of his party boss. In fact, Pappu Yadav has told Lalu to "make amends" and support the Dalit chief minister. "Else, face the music. Your party will not survive."
In a week of Bihar experiencing bewildering, breathtaking changes, Pappu throwing his weight behind Manjhi can be an attempt at creating an axis of scheduled caste and Yadavs. In all likelihood Manjhi may play victim after his ouster, if and when it happens. If he agrees to join hands with Pappu, the two may have bigger bargaining chip in Bihar after the assembly polls.
"Lalu Yadav should search for an answer as to why he was supporting a move to bring down the Manjhi Government. Dalits are our core voters. The party cannot survive if we hobnob with people against our core support base," Pappu said, adding that there was no need for a merger with JD-U either, as Nitish Kumar no longer has the votes.
Though Pappu's influence still seems confined to north Bihar's Kosi-Seemanchal region despite being a five-term MP - thrice from Purnea and twice from Madhepura-this is the first time in nearly three decades of his political career that he has earned a position where he can call the shots at the state level.
Though Pappu Yadav seems to have tacitly restrained himself by only questioning Lalu's decision and not his authority, he seems to have raised a question mark over Lalu's one-man show in the party.
Pappu Yadav has added inches to his stature after he registered victory in the 2014 Lok Sabha poll when Narendra Modi's juggernaut swept Bihar, decimating both Nitish and Lalu. That was the election when Pappu also ensured a victory for his wife Ranjeet Ranjan, who won from Supaul constituency on a Congress ticket. This made the two the only elected couple in the lower house of the parliament.
In yet another politically crucial step, Pappu Yadav has now positioned himself as a fierce Jitan Ram Manjhi supporter even though Lalu backed a move to remove the Mahadalit leader and facilitate Nitish return as Bihar chief minister.
Pappu Yadav is the second important RJD leader, after party MLA Raghvendra Pratap Singh, to back Manjhi in complete disregard of Lalu's diktat. Though Pappu Yadav's open support will not add up to the numbers that Manjhi desperately seeks in Bihar Assembly to muster a majority, it assumes crucial significance for the future political course in Bihar.
His support to Manjhi doesn't come as a surprise, as the Madhepura MP has been opposing Lalu's stands on various issues of late, including the RJD chief's decision to pick his heir from among his children. Earlier in a letter to Lalu Yadav, Pappu advised a "course correction" for his party boss without which "the party cannot remain relevant." In a subtle but sharp riposte, Yadav also asked Lalu Prasad to stop trusting "opportunists" in the party.
From blaming Lalu Prasad's two sons for their alleged "disrespectful behaviour" towards party seniors to questioning the inclusion of his three children, Misa Bharti, Tej Pratap and Tejaswi Yadav as RJD's star campaigners, Pappu Yadav's stinging letter has exposed the simmering discontent in RJD.
Pappu Yadav has hit out at Lalu Prasad at a crucial time as the 66-year-old RJD patriarch, who underwent a heart operation last year, may well have started thinking about anointing one of his children as his heir apparent. Since Lalu cannot contest election following his conviction in a fodder scam case, there is a considerable interest about whom he will choose to represent him. Lalu's eldest daughter Misa Bharti, who fought and lost the Lok Sabha elections, his elder son Tej Pratap Yadav and the younger one, Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, are said to be in the reckoning. But with Pappu Yadav raising questions about Lalu"s justification to pass on the leadership baton to his children, it can take the sheen out of the transfer of power in the party. Incidentally, writing a letter has no place in the conventional political space where hegemonic leaders hold sway over followers. In a world of the highly individualistic political leaders, those with conformity to the order don't write letters. A politician's letter to his boss is only considered a means of dissent and a definite indicator of the politician's migratory plans.
When senior socialist leader Shivanand Tewari revolted against the leadership of Lalu or Nitish, he always started it off by writing letters to them. No one replied to these letters, but a response was never expected either. His letters served as a means to question the leadership and declare his intention to move on. Recently, Jayanthi Natarajan also wrote a similar letter to Sonia Gandhi recently.
For a party that had to bite dust in five consecutive elections (two assembly elections in 2005, the 2010 assembly poll and the 2009 and 2014 Lok Sabha elections), RJD looks spectacularly robust after joining hands with Nitish Kumar, who was also looking for crutches after last year's Lok Sabha polls left JD-U with just 2 MPs, a fraction of the 20 it won in 2009.
Lalu and Nitish have joined hands after two decades of bitter rivalry to survive against the saffron onslaught ahead of the crucial assembly elections schedule in October this year.
The Lalu-Nitish alliance has already tasted success when in the August 2014 bypoll for 10 assembly seats; they succeeded to slice off six seats in the company of Congress, leaving BJP to just four. They still seem to have the numbers to take the chief minister's chair in Bihar, but the dissenting voices in their respective parties, have put a question mark over their acceptability.