Lalu and Rahul's Tug-of-War for Raisina Power Isn't Helping

Lalu and Rahul's ambitions are focused on Raisina Hill's throne.

- ALOK MEHTA

Lalu Yadav and Rahul Gandhi share the same goal - to capture the throne of India on Raisina Hill. Lalu Yadav's autobiography, "From Gopalganj to Raisina," published in 2019, hinted at this very ambition. The foreword to this book had been sent as early as September 13, 2018, by Sonia Gandhi, chairperson of the Congress Parliamentary Party.

At that time, both seemed under the illusion that in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP would fail to secure a clear majority, and that a Congress-led coalition supported by Lalu would form a government under Rahul Gandhi's leadership. But like Mungerilal's rosy dreams, neither 2019 nor 2024 brought this fantasy to life.

In that autobiography, Lalu Prasad Yadav also devoted an entire chapter to his son Tejashwi Yadav, projecting him as his political successor. Now, ahead of the Bihar Assembly elections, Tejashwi Yadav has flown the kite of making Rahul Gandhi the Prime Minister while himself becoming the Chief Minister, using Lalu's old formula.

On that same formula, Tejashwi Yadav and Rahul Gandhi, along with their parties, are attacking central agencies such as the CBI, ED, and the Election Commission, in order to confuse the public. Their aim is to destroy trust in the electoral system so that, after facing defeat, they can incite dissatisfaction and unrest by other means.