Bihar bypoll win may bring Lalu & Cong together.

THE ' unexpected' results in the Bihar bypolls may well pave the way for a reunion of the RJD- LJP combine with the Congress ahead of the Bihar assembly elections due next year.

The results have the given the Opposition parties the much- needed confidence to fancy their chances in the next elections in the state.

Though the local Congress unit is against any tie- up with the RJD, ground realities may lead to a patch- up between the erstwhile United Progressive Alliance partners.

The ruling NDA government led by chief minister Nitish Kumar, which was widely expected to win the majority of the 18 assembly constituencies, won only five seats while the RJD- LJP combine and the Congress grabbed 11 seats.

This has jolted Nitish's " invincible" image which he had acquired after the NDA's landslide victory in the Lok Sabha polls and raised a glimmer of hope of a larger Opposition unity in the state.

Both RJD president Lalu Prasad Yadav and LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan have hinted that they have no problems with the Congress.

Paswan went to the extent of saying they would have swept the bypolls had the three parties fought together. " We had tried our best for an alliance with the Congress but it somehow did not materialise," he said after the results were announced.

Lalu also said the Congress had never been his target and he has had no differences with the party. " I have all regards for Congress president Sonia Gandhi," he said. His wife, former chief minister Rabri Devi, reiterated that the RJD- LJP had no issues with the Congress. " It is only some local Congress leaders who are against the tie- up," she said.

Lalu and Paswan apparently want to forge an alliance with the Congress before the elections, given the crucial role played by the party in both the Lok Sabha elections and the Assembly bypolls. But the Congress state unit is upbeat that the party is on a revival mode. It thinks that it will do well on its own in the next elections.

" The Congress will bounce back with a vengeance in the next assembly elections on its own," Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee president Anil Sharma said.

" The traditional voters of our party like the minorities, backward castes and upper castes have started returning to the Congress.

This augurs well for the party." Sharma said Nitish had risen on an anti- Lalu plank but he had done precious little for the state.

" It is the Congress alone that can emerge as an alternative to Lalu and Nitish," he said.

The Congress had fielded its candidates in all 18 constituencies but won only two -- Chenari and Simri Bakhtiyarpur. But even that came as a major morale booster for the party men.

Many Congressmen believe the party would have performed better had the tickets been given to loyalists and not turncoats.

" The party gave tickets to as many as 10 defectors and turncoats," AICC member Umakant Singh said. " But they all lost. The two Congressmen who won were party loyalists." Several party old- timers believe tickets should not have been given to nominees of leaders like Sadhu Yadav and Pappu Yadav who joined the party recently.

" The party is definitely in revival mode under Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi but it should not be a refuge for defectors," he said.

That the Congress played an important role is conceded by none other than Nitish. He said the presence of its candidates had hurt the prospects of the NDA candidates in the bypolls.

The bypolls were being seen as a referendum of sorts on the Nitish government's performance ahead of the next year's polls. The results have infused life in the RJD- LJP combine which was considered a spent force after its disastrous performance in the parliamentary polls.

But both parties have salvaged their reputation. They think if they could convince the Congress to join forces, Nitish will not be able to prevent them from capturing power. The ball is in Sonia's court now.

giridhar.jha@ mailtoday.in

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