Bihar will be Sonia's nemesis: Jaya Jaitley

Bihar will be Sonia's nemesis: Jaya Jaitley
SANTWANA BHATTACHARYA

NEW DELHI, APRIL 12: Predicting Bihar to be Sonia Gandhi's nemesis, Samata Party president Jaya Jaitley on Tuesday indicated that the Congress is on the verge of splitting in the State.

Directly blaming Congress president Sonia Gandhi for the unprecedented situation of a 'government-behind-bars', Jaitley, quite enjoying the tight situation Sonia is in over Chief Minister Rabri Devi's refusal to step down, said, "The Congress is going to split in Bihar all because of Sonia's short-term suicidal policies. And watch it, West Bengal will also go the same way."

She indicated that members of the state Congress - caught between Laloo Prasad Yadav's canny politics and Sonia's national agenda - were in touch with the Samata Party state unit for exploring options.

"Sonia is in for another shock. She's put herself in a corner. Either a desperate Laloo will preside over the splitting of the Congress (in Bihar) for his own survival or they will themselves seek a way out," Jaitley said, obviously still upset about Samata Party leader Nitish Kumar's unceremonious exit as Bihar's chief minister within a few days.

Pointing out that Sonia was not prepared to raise the Bihar issue at the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting, Jaitley said, "It is obvious that she is under tremendous pressure. Laloo, on one hand, is already giving the Congress ministers a hard time. On the other hand, loyalists like Sheila Dikshit are expressing doubts about supporting the tainted Rabri Devi government."

However, admitting that Bihar is a `live political potboiler', Jaitley said a lot depended on which way the Janata Dal (U) unity went. There were already rumblings in the party that both Ram Vilas Paswan and Ramakrishna Hedge (who merged his Lok Sakhti with the JD-U) were unhappy with the functioning of JD (U) chief Sharad Yadav's autocratic ways.

And Jaitley did not exactly have good words for the BJP's indecisive role in Bihar politics. "However, the Laloo-Rabri government's fate will be decided by the state Congress," she added.