Patna : It was apparent to all those who watched the oath-taking ceremony in Patna that Lalu Prasad Yadav will now be calling the shots. Lalu’s two sons — Tejeshwi and Tejpratap — who successfully contested the elections for the first time — were included in the cabinet with the younger brother, Tejeshwi, being designated as the deputy chief minister. He has also been given the high profile and lucrative portfolio of road and building construction. Earlier – since 2005 — Nitish had two different ministries for roads and building. Tejpratap was given the health, forest and environment ministry. Insiders said Nitish had called on Lalu the previous night and tried to dissuade him from pressing for the heavyweight portfolios, lest it leads to heartburn among the seniors.
Though both sons of Lalu Yadav are political greenhorns and won their first election this time, Tejaswi is widely seen as his father’s political heir. Lalu’s oldest Misa contested the Lok Sabha election but lost. She was present at the swearing in ceremony along with two more sisters.
Lalu also successfully stonewalled Nitish’s wish to include two of his trusted colleagues, PK Shahi and Shyam Razak, in the cabinet. Both of them were ministers in the earlier cabinet. Lalu was against Shahi as he was convinced that in his capacity as the advocate general Shahi was instrumental in his conviction in the fodder scam. Razak had ditched Lalu in 2010. Even Abdul Bari Siddiqui, the senior most RJD MLA who has been getting elected to the state assembly since 1977 and is the Muslim face of the party, could not become the deputy CM; finally, he was pacified with the finance portfolio. However, he will be junior to Tejeswhi Yadav in the cabinet hierarchy. Lalu also prevailed over Nitish in rejecting Congress’ demand for 5 berths in the cabinet and only four MLAs of the party were accommodated.
