JD-U stalwarts face Hobson’s choice

PATNA, March 19: Mr George Fernandes and Mr Sharad Yadav ~ the two top JD-U leaders with their constituencies in Bihar ~ are caught between the devil and the deep blue sea. Both are reluctant to contest their old seats. But the problem is that if they change their constituencies their “loyalty” will be under fire and if they choose to stay in, they will have to face the ire of their own men.
Curiously, they are not on the best of terms. Their relations got strained after Mr Yadav dethroned Mr Fernandes in the party’s organisational polls held recently. The JD-U has decided not to renominate the sitting MP, Mr Fernandes, from Muzaffarpur on grounds of health. Mr Yadav has, however, assured Mr Fernandes to provide him a Rajya Sabha berth at the earliest opportunity. For Nalanda, which Mr Fernandes preferred as he had represented it earlier, the party has already finalised the names of two senior officials ~ Mr Ashish Ranjan Sinha, Home Guard’s Director-General and former Bihar police chief and Mr RCP Sinha, principal secretary to Bihar chief minister Mr Nitish Kumar ~ for the Nalanda seat.
According to reports, people of Muzaffarpur are indignant at Mr Fernandes’ long absence from his constituency and his continued failure to raise the problems of his voters. Leave alone the common voters, even his own party men are opposing the candidacy of Mr Fernandes, saying he is “mentally ill and needs rest now”. “He (Fernandes) can neither walk nor speak properly. Added to it, his memory has failed and he cannot recall what he has said just a little while earlier”, said a senior JD-U leader Mr Hari Om Kushwaha who has even faxed a letter to the Election Commission urging it to debar the ailing MP from contesting polls. “He is too weak and too old to contest the poll and the party is bound to lose if it gives him a chance”, said another leader.
Quite similar is the condition of the party’s national president Mr Yadav who has been contesting against the RJD chief, Mr Lalu Prasad, from Madhepura since they fell apart. This time, however, Mr Prasad is not contesting the Madhepura seat which means the JD-U president will face no formidable challenge from his old rival. Even so, the JD-U chief is not keen to contest this seat and instead, according to party insiders, wants to shift to his old Jabalpur seat in Madhya Pradesh ~ the seat which he had earlier contested in 1974 and won.
“The party has still not decided from where I will be contesting this time”, was a one-line cold reply of Mr Yadav when asked if he will be contesting the Madhepura seat. Mr Yadav is believed to be uncertain about his victory from Madhepura ~ the seat he has been regularly contesting since 1991~ given the people’s anger over the Kosi disaster. More than 500 were killed and five million rendered homeless in the months-long Kosi disaster. The people are angry and shocked at the way the state government ignored them when they needed its support most and for denying them relief and shelter which it had promised.