Lalu Prasad and Nitish Kumar

Patna, Aug. 28: The political course correction carried out, Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad are now concentrating on their health. The pressure is now on the dissidents.

A day before the byelection results, Lalu flew down to Mumbai for a heart surgery that took place on Wednesday. A day after the results, Nitish set off for Delhi, Goa and Mumbai on a “physical and mental relaxation trip”. He is likely to meet Lalu at the Mumbai hospital before returning on September 1.

The byelection results has definitely come as a booster for the political health of Nitish and Lalu — key architects of the JDU-RJD-Congress grand alliance — and the fledgling Jitan Ram Manjhi government. The pressure is now back on JDU dissidents and their BJP “patrons”.

Assembly Speaker Uday Narayan Chaudhary on Thursday heard the petition to annul the membership of eight rebel JDU MLAs led by Gyanendra Singh Gyanu.

They are among 18 others who voted against the official JDU candidates during the Rajya Sabha polls in June. Sources said the Speaker was in an “advanced stage” of hearing the petition. He will hear the same again on August 30.

“The Sword of Damocles hangs on rebel legislators as the Speaker can deliver his verdict any day after August 30,” a source in the Assembly secretariat said.

It is widely believed that the BJP “fuelled” the crisis in the JDU after the latter suffered its worst-ever humiliation at Narendra Modi’s hands during the Lok Sabha polls. Nitish, who resigned as chief minister owning moral responsibility for his party’s debacle, openly held the BJP responsible for the “larger plot to cause the Jitan Manjhi government’s premature death”.

He survived the post-Lok Sabha poll crisis that befell his party and government by roping in Lalu’s 22 RJD MLAs. The latter compensated for the 18 JDU MLAs who voted for rebel candidates during the Rajya Sabha polls in June.

Lalu’s MLAs also supported the Manjhi government in the Assembly.

It effectively paved the way for the JDU-RJD-Congress alliance, which reversed the Lok Sabha poll results’ trends in the grand alliance’s favour in the August 21 byelections.

The JDU rebels, apparently backed by 84 BJP MLAs led by Sushil Modi in the House were hopeful the byelection would drive the last nail into the JDU’s coffin and strengthen their campaign against the Nitish-Lalu combo.

But the byelection results have sent the BJP leadership in “introspection mode” and inflicted a body blow to the JDU dissidents’ campaign against the leadership.

Despite their game plan failing, the dissidents sounded cautious and defensive.

“We are very much in the party. We have not resorted to any anti-party activity. The law clearly stipulates that there is no provision for issuing a whip for the Rajya Sabha polls. Thus, our membership should not be annulled for our act of voting against the party’s official nominees. Our action was for restoring internal democracy in the JDU while staying in it,” Gyanu said on Thursday.

The Manjhi government can breathe easy as its tally has touched 149 (118 JDU+25 RJD+5 Congress) after the by-election results.