Shivanand Tiwari, who had hung up his political boots three years ago, is clear why he is back in the thick of things defending Lalu Prasad.
Asked why he has been supporting the the RJD chief, pat came Shivanand's reply: "If Lalu is finished the BJP will take over Bihar, endangering the very idea of India - like it has been doing in Uttar Pradesh and other parts of the country.
"I am not supporting Lalu in corruption cases," he added. "But as a socialist fighter it will be dishonest on my part to stay neutral to the BJP's larger design to take over Bihar."
His defence of Lalu - at a time when even ally Congress and Dal are maintaining a studious silence - has raised eyebrows because he was a petitioner in fodder scam cases against the RJD chief.
Shivanand kept swaying between Lalu and Nitish Kumar in the 40-plus years of his political career - he played guru to both - but he was always steadfast against the RSS-BJP politics.
Son of Bihar's first home minister Ramanand Tiwari, Shivanand was bitterly "hurt" when Nitish's JDU refused him a second term in the Rajya Sabha in 2014. After dropping him as the JDU MP, Nitish offered Shivanand a ticket to contest the Buxar Lok Sabha seat in 2014 which the veteran socialist refused. Shivanand then tried to get a nod from Lalu to contest the Bettiah Lok Sabha seat, but the RJD also spurned him.
Shivanand screamed at Lalu in a telephonic conversation and subsequently "retired" from politics.
Shivanand had helped Nitish in founding the Samata Party - the JDU's earlier avatar - when Nitish broke off with Lalu in 1994. He stayed rock solid with Nitish even when Lalu battered Nitish in the 1995 state polls.
Later, Shivanand fell out with Nitish and joined the RJD, becoming a cabinet minister in the Rabri Devi government. Again on the persuasion of his "friends" close to Nitish he shifted to Nitish's JDU which nominated him as the party's national general secretary and sent him to the Rajya Sabha in 2008.
But Shivanand kept on speaking against the RSS-BJP - at times embarrassing the JDU with his statements - even when Nitish had a comfortable working relationship with the combine.
Shivanand, who was close to Jayaprakash Narayan in the 1970s, strongly backed Lalu - a student leader then - in the battle against the then Yadav leader of the Congress, Ram Lakhan Singh Yadav, and also helped Lalu emerge as the leader of the backward classes after Karpoori Thakur died in 1988.
When there the Lok Dal split in the early 1980s, Shivanand formed his own group and got Nitish to join what was then known as the Lok Dal (Shivanand group).
