Will Mulayam Singh Yadav Return? Lalu and Sharad Yadav's House Call

New Delhi: The persuasion skills of Sharad Yadav and Lalu Yadav, among the country's most-experienced politicians, are on test. Both leaders from Bihar are trying to convince Mulayam Singh Yadav to rethink his exit from the Janata Parivaar, also dubbed the Grand Alliance, which is contesting the Bihar election with Nitish Kumar as its candidate for Chief Minister.

Lalu's daughter is married to Mulayam Singh Yadav's grand-nephew. "Netaji (Mulayam) is my senior and my relative," said Lalu, "We requested Netaji to reconsider. Talks are on."

Yesterday, Mulayam Singh Yadav said his Samajwadi Party will contest Bihar alone, because it was assigned a paltry five of Bihar's 243 seats.

The Samajwadi Party, which is in power in Uttar Pradesh, did not win a single seat in Bihar in the last state and national election. But it can queer the pitch for its former partners by splitting the Muslim and the Yadav vote, two large chunks of Bihar's population, especially in areas bordering Uttar Pradesh.

The Janata Parivaar was assembled a few months ago as parties with formerly low tolerance for each other aligned to block the BJP from winning Bihar. As the non-BJP parties foresaw, the Prime Minister is leading the campaign for his coalition, drawing massive audiences.

Nitish Kumar wants a third consecutive term as Chief Minister. He is being backed by Lalu Yadav's Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Congress.

Sources say that Mulayam Singh Yadav's plans for his party in Bihar are guided by the likely impact on Uttar Pradesh, which votes in 2017. His Samajwadi Party and the Congress both count Muslims as a large constituent of supporters. The 75-year-old apparently feels that if he is part of a coalition that includes the Congress in Bihar, he may be too closely identified with the party in his own state where they will compete against each other.