What are the possibilities?
There are 545 seats in the Lok Sabha. (Parliament of India - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) The chances of his party the Rashtriya Janata Dal getting half those seats on its own are nil. (Rashtriya Janata Dal - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
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The second best option would be the emergence of a Third Front. All the non-Congress, non-BJP parties would come together and go at it. That coalition would best be formed before an election. Maybe such a Third Front will gain a majority. If it does not, maybe that Third Front will still be larger than the Congress, and will get the Congress to support it by default.
A likely scenario would be where the Third Front is larger than the Congress, and a Third Front-Congress coalition takes over power. That is Laloo's best shot. He sure is qualified. He represents what is the Arkansas of India, Bihar. He represents the oppressed castes and Muslims. That is progressive. He has been an excellent Railway Minister. He has more than proven himself.
What comes to mind is a 1996 scenario when Jyoti Basu had the option to become Prime Minister but his party unwisely refused. Laloo will never refuge. Make him the offer he can not refuse.
Even today the seat distributions are as follows:
Congress 145
BJP 138
Rest 260
Should not 260 lead 145? But that asks for the creation of a Third Front, and within that Third Front, Laloo will have to build a coalition that makes it the largest group within that Third Front.
Indian Imponderables
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