RJD leader and former Bihar chief minister Rabri Devi with senior party leaders during a meeting at 10 Circular Road in Patna
Jail for
Lalu Prasad in the fodder scam has meant that it is power by proxy once again in the Rashtriya Janta Dal (RJD), with the party today reposing faith in the collective leadership of the former Bihar chief minister and his wife Rabri Devi to take the party into the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
Last week, speculation was rife that Mr Prasad may look beyond his family to appoint an interim head to run the day-to-day affairs of the RJD. But, at a party meeting in Patna today, it was Rabri Devi, flanked by her two sons, Tejaswi and Tej Pratap, who called the shots.
Earlier this week, Rabri Devi had, soon after her husband's conviction, said that she and her sons would run the RJD like Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi run the Congress.
Today, the party passed a resolution, expressing faith in the Lalu-Rabri combine.
"Opposition is saying that party is going to break, that is not going to happen... I request you all to stay united and spread the work of our party," Rabri Devi told party office-bearers.
Leadership by proxy, though, is not new to the couple. When Mr Prasad was forced to step down as chief minister in 1997 after being arrested and jailed in connection with the fodder scam, he shocked one and all by installing Rabri Devi, then a political novice, as his replacement.
She ended up serving three terms as chief minister of Bihar from 1997-2005. It was no secret, though, that her husband called the shots.
While the RJD today rallied around Lalu Prasad and Rabri Devi in a show of unity, things may be a little different this time. Mr Prasad is lodged in a jail in Ranchi, 350 kms away from the state capital of Patna. His two sons, too, have hinted that they too may want to manage the party. These factors coupled with the RJD's declining stocks in the last Lok Sabha and assembly elections raises doubts on whether the party will be able to maintain a united front for long.