But political glory must be irrelevant for politicians like Sharad Yadav. At a time when Indian politics seems to have split into a bi-polar mould, survival requires aligning with one of them.
Ideology can wait.
And the wily Yadav has realised this quick enough. In the heat that precedes elections to the 13th Lok Sabha what makes Yadav a particularly bright object of public attention, is his being symbolic of the demise of a movement originally started by Jaiprakash Narayan to build an alternative Centrist force. Never in the thick of any popular political movement, Sharad Yadav found his first gainful messiah in the form of VP Singh at the height of the Bofors crisis. As time warranted, he shifted to Bihar and rode on an unwilling Laloo Prasad Yadav to secure his survival in New Delhi. Yadav's latest shift, colluding with the chief minister of the only JD-ruled state to split the party and seek the security of an alliance that appears most likely to win should surprise none.