A Flickering Lantern

With Nitish Leaving Him in the Lurch, Lalu Will Have to Fight Time and the Cbi to Stay Afloat and Establish His Children as His Political Heirs. But the Rjd Chief Could Still Have a Few Aces Up His Sleeve.

- Amitabh Srivastava

LALU’S INSTINCT TOLD HIM something was amiss. West Bengal governor Keshari Nath Tripathi was reaching Patna on July 25, the same day as Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, who was returning after attending President Ram Nath Kovind’s swearing-in ceremony in Delhi. Earlier, Nitish had dissuaded Lalu from using his photos for a Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) rally on August 27.

It was Governor Tripathi’s first visit to Bihar after taking over additional charge of the state on June 22. “Pata karo kaahe aa rahe hain Governor sahab (find out why he is coming),” Lalu ordered an aide. He didn’t take much time getting back, to tell Lalu that the governor was in town to meet university officials. Lalu wasn’t convinced but he let it be for the moment. There were more pressing matters to attend to. Like holding a meeting of party legislators and making them once again oppose the resignation of Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, his younger son and till then Bihar’s deputy chief minister.

The RJD meeting endorsed what Lalu wanted. But the sense of unease remained. Enough for him to skip the 3.30 IndiGo flight to Ranchi on July 26—the last from Patna to the Jharkhand capital—where he had to appear in a CBI court the next morning for a trial on one of the fodder scam cases. The Supreme Court had in May ruled that the RJD chief would have to stand trial separately in all four fodder scam cases in which the Jharkhand High Court had dropped the conspiracy charges against him two-and-a-half years ago. Lalu would travel 340 km by road that night to Ranchi. Until then, he wanted to stay put in Patna to know the outcome of the Janata Dal (United) meeting Nitish had called after the RJD meeting the same day.