The Left parties may agree to retain the three Rashtriya Janata Dal ministers -- Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, Kanti Singh and Jai Narain Prasad Nishad -- in the Union cabinet and let the mood of Parliament decide their fate.
With this issue settled, the Left is likely to accept DMK chief M Karunanidhis compromise formula on UF-RJD relationship thereby bringing truce with him. The DMK chief has been advocating that RJD chief and scam-tainted Bihar Chief Minister should not be included in the Front utill he is absolved of all corruption charges in the court in relation to the the multi-crore animal husbandry scam. At the same time, the three RJD ministers should not be dropped just because they happen to be in the party headed by Laloo Prasad.
Left leaders hope that once the Parliament session begins, the opposition parties will demand the resignations of the three ministers who are no longer part of the ruling coalition creating an environment for their removal from the government.
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How can we face such embarassment of having ministers who are not part of the ruling coalition?, a senior Left leader said. And this embarassment will force the government to do something with regard to these ministers, he said.
Karunanidhis argument behind his formula is that the United Front had accepted unconditional support from the Congress at a time when it was headed by former Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao. Rao was almost in a similar situation then as Laloo Prasad was now. Also, he argues that there might be corrupt people in every political party but that did not mean that the entire party should be treated as untouchable for the sake of one person.
While Left leaders publicly maintained that there is no question of their climbing down from their stand, privately they say that they will not push their line so much as to cause a split in the Front.
CPI(M) general secretary Harkishan Singh Surjeet said that there is no question of going up or coming down. I assure you that all the differences will be sorted out.
When asked whether the intra-Front relations were worsening, Surjeet replied in the negative. He, however, refused to comment on Karunanidhis statement on the inclusion of the RJD.
Front spokesman S Jaipal Reddy also hoped that all the differences in the Front would be sorted out at the scheduled meeting of the United Front standing committee on July 25.
The events in the next four days might come in handy in resolving the impasse on the RJD issue.
It is becoming increasingly clear that Laloo Prasads arrest by the CBI will become a certainty once his bail application is disposed off.
In such a situation even those Front leaders who are sympathetic to RJD would not be able to demand its inclusion in the Front.
On the other hand, a Chief Minister in custody would render him ineffective as he would not be able to discharge even the basic function of calling and holding a Cabinet meeting. This situation being unprecedented, it is being said that the governor would then be in a position to dismiss the government and keep the Assembly in animated suspension.
Most Front leaders do not see a chance of the Assembly being dissolved and fresh elections ordered, at least not immediately. If Laloo Prasad nominated a new leader to become Chief Minister, a new government could be formed.
Any possibility of his recommending dissolution of the Assembly is being ruled out as once he is arrested, he would not be able to even hold a Cabinet meeting.
If RJD fails to form a government, the governor them would wait for an alternative government and if this also does not materialise, only then there may be fresh elections.