Lalu Yadav-nitish Kumar Alliance

Sharad Yadav's assertion that he, and not Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, represented the "real" Janata Dal United received a hit on Tuesday when the Election Commission refused to entertain his request because he hadn't backed his claim with documentary evidence.

Bihar's ruling alliance appears to be well on its way to imploding with its main stakeholders - Nitish Kumar and Lalu Yadav - setting conditions for each other that are impossible to meet.

For those questioning Lalu Yadav's alliance with Nitish Kumar in Bihar, the 69-year-old political heavyweight has two questions of his own: "Am I a fool?" and "Do I look like Kalidas?"

Lalu Yadav's two sons - both ministers in the Bihar government - are becoming adept at a new model of displaying their father's problems with Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. At important government functions, they are a no-show. Not much reading between the lines needed, then.

Sharad Yadav's assertion that he, and not Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, represented the "real" Janata Dal United received a hit on Tuesday when the Election Commission refused to entertain his request because he hadn't backed his claim with documentary evidence.

Bihar's ruling alliance appears to be well on its way to imploding with its main stakeholders - Nitish Kumar and Lalu Yadav - setting conditions for each other that are impossible to meet.

For those questioning Lalu Yadav's alliance with Nitish Kumar in Bihar, the 69-year-old political heavyweight has two questions of his own: "Am I a fool?" and "Do I look like Kalidas?"

Lalu Yadav's two sons - both ministers in the Bihar government - are becoming adept at a new model of displaying their father's problems with Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. At important government functions, they are a no-show. Not much reading between the lines needed, then.