Janata Parivar: How Nitish Kumar is being played by Mulayam-Lalu

The idea behind the Janata Parivar became known to observers soon after it was floated. This was primarily because of the man who had conceived the idea. According to insiders in the Samajwadi Party (SP), party president Mulayam Singh Yadav's idea was to merge six regional political parties into his own so that he could gain national status.

"Though he (Mulayam) had said initially that parties, namely the SP, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Janata Dal (United), Janata Dal (Secular) and Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) would merge and become the Janata Parivar, later on he suggested that they merge with his party," said an SP insider. "He was neither ready to change the name of his party nor its election symbol. In fact, he was trying to upgrade himself at the cost of the other regional parties," he added.

But the SP president was not just thinking about himself but also about the RJD chief Lalu Prasad. Since, Lalu's daughter recently got married to Mulayam's grandnephew, the two veteran politicians are taking care of each other's interests. Recently, Mulayam has greatly helped Lalu, by quelling his old rival Janata Dal (United) leader and current Bihar CM Nitish Kumar.

In 2014, when the idea of the Janata Parivar was floated by Mulayam, Nitish was made to believe that he would benefit if he joined the front. Once Nitish became part of this alternative non-BJP, non-Congress front, Mulayam played his trump card. His cousin and SP general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav came forward last week and declared that the Janata Parivar was a distant reality and would not happen before the Bihar elections.

"Instead of thinking about a merger, the RJD and JD(U) should opt for sharing seats in the Bihar Assembly elections and contest together," Ram Gopal Yadav had suggested. Mulayam agreed and insisted that this would be the best course of action as they would lose their party symbols if they merged and that would only cause confusion among voters.

Observers believe that the decision to fight separately could harm Nitish much more than Lalu. Since July last year, when both the leaders joined hands, they have avoided attacking each other in public. But problems over seat sharing and Lalu's attack on Nitish for inadequate compensation to earthquake victims in Bihar has led to a open spat. These developments are likely to hurt Nitish more than Lalu as people will question why he aligned with the RJD leader in the first place.

Secondly, the arrest of Ajay Singh, a politician-turned-kidnapper, from an apartment in Lucknow, is evidence that UP criminals involved in high-profile abductions in the state are back in operation. Till now, they had been in hiding as Nitish had cracked down on the law and order menace. Now their re-emergence means Nitish may lose ground.

The downfall of Nitish is essential not just for Lalu but for Mulayam who has always looked after his family. It is common knowledge that Mulayam never looks beyond his family when it comes to giving political power. This is why there are over two dozen members of his family, including son Akhilesh Yadav (UP CM), brother Shivpal Singh Yadav (PWD minister) and grandnephew Tej Pratap Yadav (Mainpuri MP) who are enjoying prominence. Since Lalu is a new entrant into Mulayam's family, the SP chief must be thinking about how to replace Nitish and re-establish Lalu as the CM of Bihar.