But the people are quite well aware of the fact that the only cause that Chautala has believed in diligently and consistently over all these years has been the cause of Chautala himself. Wasn't itthis man, after all, who as chief minister of Haryana, introduced the word ``meham'' into the nation's lexicon of political malpractice, making it synonymous with booth-capturing and poll rigging? The events that took place in the Meham constituency of the state on February 27, 1990, was eloquent proof that in Chautala's scheme of things the people can often be hurdles in the path to power and that if the electorate doesn't vote for you, lathis and goons should be mobilised to do the needful. But while the Tau's son may on occasion give short shrift to the ``people factor'', he knows well enough that his political survival depends on his ability to keep Haryana's kulaks happy. It is this that now motivates him to complain loudly about the Rs 400 per tonne hike in urea prices that was effected recently. Of course, Chautala has been informed that the government he supports will have to fork out Rs 8,000 crore by way of fertilizer subsidies in this fiscal year, something it can ill afford to do given theprecarious state of the economy, but these trivial details don't appear to bother him unduly.

The irony is that it was Chautala himself who had proffered the support of his party to the Vajpayee government when it was formed last March. At that stage he had maintained that he did so without conditions and only because he was convinced that Vajpayee was the leader this country needed. It was a tricky offer for the BJP, considering that it had an assembly-level partnership with Chautala's political opponents -- Bansi Lal's Haryana Vikas Party. But the MPs that the INLD brought to the ruling coalition made all the difference to the BJP-led coalition's wafer-thin majority in the House. While Chautala doesn't quite enjoy the clout that a Jayalalitha has, the withdrawal of his four MPs would leave the ruling coalition extremely vulnerable to Opposition's broadsides. This is something that should worry the BJP's crisis administrators, experienced though they now are in managing contradictions.