Lalu Yadav’s family sees a silver lining in the collapse of the mahagathbandhan government in Bihar. His kids say their father has been rejuvenated in the role in which he is the most comfortable: that of an opposition leader. Apparently, Lalu is all over the place, meeting people, planning rallies, thinking of new ways to attack the BJP and Nitish Kumar and most importantly, trying to get opposition leaders together into an anti-Modi front for the 2019 parliamentary poll. His plans stand for the joint opposition rally in Patna on August 27.

The highlight will be the showcasing of BSP chief Mayawati and SP leader Akhilesh Yadav on one platform, if Lalu is able to get them to come as he is hoping. Significantly, Lalu has also changed his eating habits. He had become a pure vegetarian when he was jailed for his role in the fodder scam. He is now back to eating non-vegetarian food, mainly fish, rather than red meat, because of health issues.

Lalu was a formidable politician in his heyday. He was easily the most popular public speaker of his times and was in great demand to address rallies and election meetings. But as events proved later, he was a better opposition leader than an administrator. In power, he got embroiled in corruption scandals and promoting his family instead of governing. Now that he is back in the opposition and pitted against two old enemies, the BJP and Nitish, his family is hoping that the old spark will return to revive the RJD’s flagging political fortunes.

Comedy of errors

It was a comedy of errors on the day the Modi government failed to muster up enough numbers in the Rajya Sabha to push through the bill giving constitutional status to the backward classes commission. At least five senior ministers were trapped outside the House in the lobbies and couldn’t get inside for the voting because the Watch and Ward staff declined to open the doors for them under the watchful eyes of the opposition.

According to convention, when the bill is a constitutional amendment, there has to be a division when voting takes place so that the numbers can be counted. When the bell rings for the voting to commence, the doors to the lobbies are shut and locked so that no one can get in and no one can go out. Only members of the House are permitted to sit inside. It so happened that on the fateful day, five BJP ministers rushed to the House only when the bell for voting was rung. It was too late.

By the time they reached, the doors were shut and locked. They appealed to the Parliament security staff to open the doors for them but they declined. Inside, opposition leaders kept an eagle eye on the security staff to ensure that no BJP member was allowed to slip inside against the rules. There was chaos in the lobbies as the ministers ran from door to door to get one opened. As the security staff stood their ground, one minister was seen running into the officials’ gallery and trying to jump over the balustrade into the House. He stopped when he saw opposition leaders raise their hands to object to this behavior.

Meanwhile, word reached the PM’s office in Parliament that the bill was going to fall because of lack of government numbers. Leader of the House Arun Jaitley was seen going into the Chairman’s chamber at least twice to receive telephone calls which presumably came from the PM’s office asking for details of what was happening. With the opposition standing firm on keeping the doors closed after the voting bell had rung, the security staff had no option but to refuse requests from the ministers to allow them in.

The result was acute embarrassment for the government which had to watch its proposed sop to the OBCs fall in the Rajya Sabha. Worse still, the pathetic performance of the BJP and its inability to herd its flock inside the House to stack up the required number of votes came just a week after Narendra Modi had fired his MPs for high absenteeism. “Yeh bardasht nahin hoga,” he had thundered at his parliamentary party meeting. Clearly, the MPs were not listening.

Feud simmers

The feud in the Samajwadi Party continues unabated despite its recent humiliating defeat in the UP polls. Mulayam Singh snubbed cousin and party floor leader in the Rajya Sabha Ram Gopal Yadav by staying away from a dinner held to celebrate his silver jubilee year as a parliamentarian. Curiously, Mulayam had accepted the invitation and assured Ram Gopal that he would be present at the dinner.

The celebratory party was hosted at a five star hotel in the capital by SP MP Naresh Agarwal. The who’s who of Parliament was present, including Narendra Modi himself. An array of BJP ministers turned up as did several Congress leaders and MPs from other parties. But Mulayam Singh did not show his face. The SP patriarch’s absence underlines how ugly the family feud has become.

Jinxed bench

The latest joke in the Rajya Sabha is about a jinxed front bench where nonBJP, non-Congress leaders sit. Look at the fate of the four who occupy this bench. Mayawati has just quit from the Rajya Sabha and is working desperately to revive her sagging political career. CPI-M general secretary Sitaram Yechury has been denied a third term in Parliament because of an internal power tussle and the party’s hide-bound rules.

Ram Gopal Yadav’s party is being torn apart by a raging family feud. And the fourth occupant, Sharad Yadav, may soon be partyless too as he and Nitish lock horns over the latter’s decision to join hands with the BJP in Bihar.