With SP, RJD on her side, Mamata makes inroads into Janata Parivar politics

Demonetisation has given Mamata Banerjee an opportunity to make inroads into Janata Parivar politics.

The West Bengal chief minister has been able to mobilise the RJD and the SP to her side, at least for now. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's support to demonetisation made it easy for her to reach out to both the parties.

Both RJD and SP have not been on good terms with Kumar. During the past few months, RJD leader Lalu Prasad's old rivalry surfaced more than once. Law and order has been an issue on which they differed hugely.

Nitish Kumar's move to campaign for prohibition across the country is also said to have irked Lalu Prasad.

Mamata's Patna arrival on Wednesday gave Prasad an opportunity to express his displeasure against the Bihar chief minister. She was welcomed by his family. Lalu Prasad's close confidant and former minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, who is also a bitter critic of Kumar, attended her event against demonetisation.

Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh and Kumar are not having cordial ties since Bihar elections. The SP also did not approve of his anti-liquor rallies in Uttar Pradesh.

Their relationship further deteriorated when Kumar refused to participate in SP's celebration at Lucknow. So, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh welcomed Mamata very warmly.

This is creating unease among both the CPM and the Congress as Mamata may try to forge a non-BJP and non-Congress alliance in the next the Lok Sabha elections.