It was not corruption after all. According to informed political sources, one of the reasons for the Nitish-Lalu breakup was the tussle between them for leadership of a united opposition front to challenge Narendra Modi in 2019. While Nitish was keen that the Congress negotiate a larger role for him in a national mahagathbandhan, preferably as prime ministerial candidate, Lalu was working independently to make himself the fulcrum of an anti-Modi front.

His most recent move, which probably pushed the Nitish-Lalu alliance to breaking point, was the RJD chief ’s secret parleys with BSP supremo Mayawati to script her Rajya Sabha resignation drama.

Apparently, Lalu and Mayawati met away from prying eyes about a month before the monsoon session of Parliament. The meeting is believed to have lasted well over an hour with Lalu mooting a suggestion to help Mayawati revive her flagging political career. He is said to have advised her to create a “dhamaka” on a Dalit-related issue at the start of the monsoon session and resign from Parliament.

He reminded her that her term was due to end early next year anyway. If she resigned now, she had little to lose and everything to gain by making an issue of recent atrocities on Dalits in BJP-ruled states.

Lalu also suggested that she then contest the upcoming bye-election for the Phulpur Lok Sabha seat and assured her that he would get both Akhilesh Yadav and the Congress to support her. In fact, Lalu has been working hard to bring Akhilesh and Mayawati together on one platform.

He also told the BSP chief that if the Phulpur plan failed, he would have her re-elected to Rajya Sabha from Bihar. He tweeted the offer minutes after Mayawati walked out of Parliament. Mamata Banerjee was already in Lalu’s corner because of her sharp differences with Nitish over demonetisation.

Now with Mayawati playing out Lalu’s script, he has added a second regional boss to his armory. Akhilesh will be the third. Nitish was naturally insecure about Lalu’s political moves. He saw them as Lalu stealing a march over him to deny him leadership of a national anti-Modi front. The die was cast for the split in Bihar.

In a fix

JD(U) spokesperson and former MP K C Tyagi got an uncomfortable indication of the damage to his party’s secular image if Nitish were to jump ship and join the NDA. It happened at a mango party that is hosted annually by a now retired senior Muslim government official.

This was before Nitish actually defected from the mahagathbandhan to join hands with the BJP. Tyagi is a popular figure among the Muslim community for his secular views but when he landed up at the party, he was startled by the rush of negative sentiment coming at him from the many Muslims present.

They surrounded him and badgered him with questions about Nitish’s flirtation with the BJP. Many expressed anguish and concern that if Nitish too were to join the BJP bandwagon, then they would have to give up hope of a secular alliance to defeat Modi in 2019. They pestered Tyagi with pleas to tell Nitish not to betray the secular cause. Where would Muslims in India go if the BJP returns for a second term, they asked.

Poor Tyagi. He was at a loss for words in the face of so much fear and anxiety in the community. Most of those present were part of the Muslim elite which has hardly faced the kind of discrimination that poor Muslims have to live with. But today, they too worry that they have become second class citizens in the land of their birth.

Sewing loose lips

A recent background briefing by foreign secretary S Jaishanker on the IndiaChina stand-off in Bhutan was quite unusual. These backgrounders are meant for media persons who write on foreign policy so that they get a government perspective for their articles.

But this time, among those invited to the briefing were TV panelists, some of who are known as hardliners and war mongers. There was lots of media, of course.

But some of the unusual faces spotted in the gathering were Major General G D Bakshi and retired intelligence official R S N Singh. Bakshi and Singh grace TV discussions frequently and always take an ultra nationalist position on Pakistan and China, often calling for strong retaliatory measures by India to provocative attacks by the armies of these countries. Jaishanker’s briefing was part of a government effort to stop the media from creating a war hysteria against China. This is why some of the sharpest hardliners were invited.

The tone and tenor of the discussions that day was deescalation. It was made clear to those present that the government does not want tensions to rise. It was looking for a way out through discussions.

That was the message to the hardliners. And it seems to have worked because the most “nationalist” of TV channels are largely quiet on the Doklam stand-off.

Still in demand

Now that Pranab Mukherjee has retired from Rashtrapati Bhavan, one would imagine that he has a lot of free time on his hands. But surprisingly, he is being kept quite busy. Several ministers in the Modi government have either sought time with him or are planning to call on him.

They are hoping to pick his mind which is an amazing encyclopaedia of knowledge and history. Among those in line to meet with Mukherjee are Arun Jaitley, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Piyush Goyal and M J Akbar. Now that Mukherjee is free of the constraints of the office of President, he can be freer and franker with advice.

The rush to call on him only underlines yet again Mukherjee’s stature as the tallest statesman in India currently.