In fact, all things are not going well for the proposed unification. There is willingness to unite among them, but all the leaders want to safeguard their own interests and prominence within the unified party and that is why there is not much clarity in the statement. They met to unite as a single party and they are now talking of a united show on 22nd of December against Modi government. That kind of show is all right and can be done even with a loose confederation of opposition parties coming together. Unification means a new name, symbol and flag as well as the name of the leader. But only the main leader has been named and has been given the task of talking to other leaders.

There is no denying the fact that the leaders are anxious to get united, but their anxiety emanates from their own shaky political grounds. Many of them are facing the threat of becoming irrelevant in current national politics and they know that they have to unite to maintain their relevance. But, unification by losing the identities of their own parties, may also push them towards irrelevance. Hence they are talking a lot of unity, but less of unification.

Lalu Prasad Yadav of Bihar should have no problem with losing the identity of his RJD. He cannot even contest election and thus he is no more in the race of becoming the central pole of unification. His main concern now is the securing of the future of his sons and daughters and giving them a firm foothold in Bihar politics. His wife Rabri Devi has lost three elections in four years. She lost two Assembly seats in 2010 and one Lok Sabha seat in 2014. Similarly, his daughter Misa lost the first election she contested. These defeats have shaken the confidence of Lalu and now he is facing the challenge of another Yadav leader, Pappu Yadav, who has the potential to replace him as the most towering Yadav leader of Bihar. Two of Lalu’s relatives lost in 2014 Lok Sabha election. On the other hand Pappu Yadav won defeating Sharad Yadav by a handsome margin. Even the wife of Pappu Yadav won from a Congress ticket in the same election.

Now Pappu Yadav has launched a big movement against the exploitation of the poor people of Bihar by the practicing medical doctors. This movement is gaining ground and it may raise the clout of Pappu in RJD. To face the challenge of Pappu and other leaders from within RJD, Lalu is talking of unity and unification, so that he can safely hand over his political legacy to his generation next. Now, he would ensure that under the new unified party, his dynastic interest is not harmed. In the political talk, there is news of a matrimonial alliance between Lalu and Mulayam family. Lalu’s youngest daughter is getting married to the grandson of Mulauam’s elder brother. The news has not been refuted by any family; hence it seems to be correct. By moving close to Mulayam family, Lalu may safeguard his political interests in the unified party led by Mulayam Singh and also fight out the challenges posed by Pappu Yadav.

As far as Chautala’s INLD of Haryana is concerned, there is no problem in unification. The two senior most Chautalas are in jail and Abhaya Chautala is will not have any problem working under Mulayam Singh Yadav. HD Devegauda is from Karnataka and he will be calling the shots in his state even if Mulayam is made the national leader of the unified party. Because of his seniority and being the former Prime Minister of India, he will be satisfied with the role of leader of the unified Dal in Lok Sabha.

But the main problem is with Nitish Kumar. Though, he was also talking a lot about unity in the meeting. He is also talking of unity after the meeting, but the word unification is almost absent from his lips. It should be recalled that some days ago Bihar Chief Minister, Jeetan Ram Manjhi had predicted that all Janata Dal splinters will merge in a single party. The next day, Nitish Kumar rebutted Manjhi’s statement saying that there was no chance of merger. The very next day, Sharad Yadav claimed that merger had to take place. Nitish did not counter Mr Yadav and kept silent on the issue.

The problem of Nitish is that he is loose a lot in the merger. He is running his Janata Dal (U) without holding any post. He does not take advice of any leader, not even the party President Sharad Yadav, while taking any political decision. He did not take any advice to any one, while leaving NDA. It will be very difficult for a leader like him to be a part of a party, in which his writ does not run. It should be recalled that 1999, his Samata Party was merged with the Janata Dal(U) of Sharad Yadav, but at the time of ticket distribution before 2000 Assembly Election, he revived his Samata Party suspecting that Sharad would not give tickets according to his dictum. He is in habit to be fiercely independent while taking political decision like making office bearers and naming party candidates. Hence, Nitish will be the main factor in the unification move. Let us see, whether he proves to be a facilitator of a hurdle. (IPA Service)