Limited options for Lalu, Paswan after poll rout

PATNA: LJP president Ram Vilas Paswan returned to New Delhi by an afternoon flight along with his wife on Thursday. At the airport, the usual scene of his supporters seeing him off was missing. Without talking to anyone, Paswan left the lounge for the aircraft.
Paswan, whose party got only three seats and his immediate family mem-bers including two brothers and two sons-in-law lost the elections appeared visibly sad at the airport.
Paswan himself had lost the 2009 Lok Sabha elections from Hajipur from where he had set a record for winning margin in the Guiness Book in the 1977 Lok Sabha elections. Paswan, who started his legislative career as a Socialist Party candidate, suffered worst political defeat in his career in 2010 Bihar assembly polls.
He was elected to Rajya Sabha from Bihar courtesy Lalu Prasad s RJD whose members supported his candidature to ensure his election to the Upper House.
Now his alliance partner Lalu Prasad, too, suffered the worst show of his 33-year-old political career with the RJD getting only 22 seats. His wife and former CM Rabri Devi lost from both Raghopur (Vaishali) and Sonepur (Saran) assembly constituencies. In the 2009 Lok Sabha elections too, he had suffered reverses with his party getting only four Lok Sabha seats.
The two fading stars from Bihar are under fire from their own partymen. The former deputy speaker of Bihar Assembly Shakuni Chaudhury, who lost from Tarapur in Munger, has demanded resignation of Lalu from the presidentship of the party alleging Lalu was no longer even a leader of Yadavs. Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, former Union rural development min-ister and MP from Vaishali, has claimed the party lost the elections be-cause of alliance with the LJP which was given 75 seats, which Paswan did not deserve.
The election results indicate RJD could not get full support of both Mus-lims and Yadavs, the two ingredients of his M-Y factor which had paid him dividend in previous elections. Even Paswans, who were not included in the Mahadalits category by Nitish, extended wholehearted support to their candidates. None of the Paswans got elected on the LJP ticket this time. In the Muslim-dominated pockets in Purnia division, the Congress got more seats than RJD.
There is erosion in the support base of both Paswan and Lalu. Close asso-ciates of Lalu though say he will not go into oblivion as he is a fighter by nature. He will revive the party, bring in some new arthimetic of poltics which would be a blend of social engineering and good governance. Peo-ple failed to take his words seriously in the campaign when he talked of development, they asserted.
Lalu may take to the streets against the Nitish government and may launch campaign on even trivials to remain in the limelight. He has already told his workers not to get demoralised and talked of conspiracy behind NDA victory. He has alleged irregularities in the EVMs and feared tampering with the machine. It was the fighter in Lalu which kept him politically alive even after his imprisonment in the fodder case at Patna and Ranchi.
Paswan, on the other hand is fond of luxury. He had enjoyed the company of the Congress in the 2005 assembly elections and got 10 seats then. In the assembly and Lok Sabha elections in Jharkhand, Paswan and Lalu had campaigned jointly, but none of them benefitted. There too, NDA came to power.
Paswan, according to the observers, may keep himself away from Lalu and find new ally for survival of his party.