Building bridges

Lalu Prasad Yadav is a man with a felicitous turn of phrase and a unique way of delivering it. His one-liners, said in his trademark (and cultivated) country bumpkin style has won him fans and a lot of television coverage. Immediately after the election results started pouring in, Yadav lost some of his humour when he realised he had made an error of judgment by not aligning with the Congress. Now, though he continues to sit in the opposition, he has got some of the old spirit back.

In his speech in Parliament, he was full of wit and not a little sarcasm, pointing out that though he had been an all weather friend of the Congress, they had discarded him. Beware of sycophants, he told the Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and pointed out the transient nature of success. His main plaint, though was the fact that the Congress had “humiliated” him and this was unfair, because he had been a former ally and still was a well-wisher of the Congress.

This Barkis is willing kind of message is understandable. Yadav is feeling left out, though it was he who had laid the grounds for the parting between him and the Congress when he had offered just three seats to the latter in Bihar. The Congress chose to go it alone and though it did not do well in Bihar, neither did Yadav’s party. Now the Congress is in power and does not need Yadav with his four MPs.

But while the Congress sits pretty with a comfortable majority in parliament and has no requirement for any more allies, things could change in the future. Its relationship with some of the coalition partners is fraught and does not bode well for the future. The DMK’s intransingence over cabinet posts could be a sign of things to come. Mamata Bannerjee may have accepted the railway ministry without a murmur but will not accede so quickly on disinvestment. A third partner Sharad Pawar is smarting at his poor performance in Maharashtra; he will be no pushover when the state elections come. In short, the Congress cannot take things for granted when it comes to the loyalty and fealty of its allies.

In such circumstances, the Congress can ill afford to show hubris, since it may have to fall back on Lalu Prasad Yadav and even Mulayam Singh Yadav of the Samajwadi Party. Congress chieftains would do well to remember that and start rebuilding bridges with their forgotten friends.