If the Congress thought it had bought peace with a disgruntled RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav by rewarding him with a front seat in the Lok Sabha, it seems to have been mistaken. The just-concluded session of Parliament saw the Bihar leader, despite being reduced to an ordinary MP, use every opportunity to attack the Government, sometimes in line with the Opposition.

Be it on the issue of price rise or the Indo-Pak joint statement, Lalu was seen both coordinating and competing with the other two Yadav stalwarts — Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and JD(U) president Sharad Yadav — to take on the government. A gleeful Opposition was more than happy to co-opt the RJD chief, and deploy his oratory skills, for its cause.

On the much-contested Indo-Pak joint statement, Lalu staged an angry walkout from the House with Mulayam and Sharad. On the price rise issue, he was scathing in his attack on the government, making veiled charges that it had given a free hand to “traders and hoarders”. The Opposition lapped up Lalu’s attack by thumping the desk, and Lalu seemed pleased at the response.

Lalu’s transformation from a supporter to a detractor of the UPA has been swift. Not long ago, when the general election results reduced the RJD from 24 to just four MPs, he was on record stating that “it was a mistake not to have aligned with the Congress” and proclaimed that “we will extend unconditional support to the UPA government”.

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