The new RJD headquarters at Rouse Avenue in New Delhi that has been christened Rabri Bhawan. Picture by Prem Singh

Patna, July 16: Rabri Devi, many even in Lalu Prasad’s close circle privately hold, was partly responsible for pushing him and the RJD closer to history. Now, a bid to emboss her on posterity has unleashed fresh ripples of dissension in the RJD.

Lalu Prasad’s decision to christen the party’s new headquarters at Rouse Avenue in central Delhi “Rabri Bhawan” is being openly questioned in sections of the party.

“It was bad enough that he pushed her into proxy chief ministership for two terms,” a senior RJD leader told The Telegraph. “Naming the party headquarters after her is a permanent and insulting imposition. Do we have nobody better than that? Do we not have (Ram Manohar) Lohia, do we not have JP, if nobody else, do we not have Lalu himself?”

Party MLC Nawal Kishore Rai decided to lash out openly. “Lalu Prasad must answer why the building should be named Rabri Bhawan? Who is she? Who was consulted ‘ before the decision was taken? Is the RJD a party, a political organisation or a private limited firm?”

Rai was served a showcause notice for his defiance last month. He stuck to his guns. Lalu did not take him on any further, choosing silence to action. It is quite another matter that Rai’s open vituperation could be aimed at securing favourable ears in the ruling Janata Dal (United); Lalu still hasn’t offered either defence of his decision or offensive action against Rai’s challenge.

There are deeper reasons than just preoccupation with the failed quest for a central cabinet berth that are keeping Lalu Prasad away from Bihar. The cabinet reshuffle has come and gone; Lalu Prasad has lost his oft-pedalled excuse that he isn’t travelling to Patna because he is busy seeking a role of substance for his party in Delhi. The real reason Lalu Prasad is shying away from Patna, party insiders say, is that he is unprepared to take on simmering dissent and disarray in his party.

Thrice over the last month or so, the RJD had rapturously announced the arrival of Lalu Prasad in Patna. Thrice he has failed to turn up. The last occasion was the 15th founding day of the party on July 5, which passed unattended not merely by Lalu but also by the three other Lok Sabha MPs he has. “The party is slowly going to pieces but he does not seem to have summoned the resolve or the mindspace yet to do anything about it,” said a senior Lalu associate kindly of his leader. “This denial is suicidal.”

Another prominent colleague took a harsher view. “If he continues to ignore and evade realities, Lalu will soon head the way of the likes of Jagannath Mishra,” said former MP Vijay Krishna, who quit the JD(U) to join Lalu just before last year’s Bihar polls.

Mishra, a former chief minister, is a politician who is as well-ignored today as he is well known. “There will always be people to recognise Lalu,” Vijay Krishna added. “But few to follow him.” He was speaking to partymen at a small conclave on ways to revive the RJD’s sunken fortunes last week. Lalu, again, gave the session a go.

Shortly after his second defeat at the hands of Nitish Kumar last November, Lalu Prasad had declared a six-month moratorium on agitational activity in the name of introspection and giving the government a fair chance to govern. That period has lapsed and RJD cadres are getting restive about where the party is headed; many of them are keen to jump ship and join the JD(U).

Common reckoning in the RJD is that Lalu Prasad is not prepared to “confront realities” at least for the moment. Apart from disgruntlement on the fringes — Nawal Kishore Rai is by no means significant in the RJD pecking order — Lalu faces fracture at the very top. The RJD’s most prominent MP after him and former Union rural development minister, Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, has been openly critical of the manner in which Lalu Prasad runs the party. For several months now he has refused to ascend the party dais and remained lukewarm during the Assembly elections even though Lalu was fighting with his back to the wall. In fact, there has been persistent speculation that Raghuvansh Prasad might be wooed into the Congress. Lalu, on his part, has made no visible effort to mollify him.