Laloo loses

[Filuwaúrdjan]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4458662.stm

[afleitch]

He's a 'Lalooser' Sorry couldn't resist

[minionofmidas]

So, out with Rabri Devi, in with this guy...

We'll see how long it'll last.

[Democratic Hawk]

How many 'Janata'  parties does India have?

Dave

[minionofmidas]

The original Janata Party (or Janata Dal, or Freedom Party. The 2nd is Hindi, the 3rd is English, the 1st is...whatever) was an alliance of five opposition parties of different hues (Socialists, Hindu Fundies, and a Congress splinter, basically) that fought the 1977 on a joint programme and managed to drive Congress from power for the first time.
It quickly faltered in office.
Since then, the Hindu Nationalists (hate that misleading phrase) have been going by Bharatiya Janata Party (Indian Freedom Party). The Socialist wings went by Janata Dal, and later split up several ways. The two main parties of that name, jointly referred to in Indian papers as the "Janata Parivar", are the JD (United), a BJP ally, and the JD (Secular), which refuses to ally with either BJP or Congress. (They are locally allied to the Communists in Kerala, btw.) JD (U) has more seats in parliament, JD (S) probably has more supporters.
And there's a number of smaller groups in the "Janata Parivar". The All India Progressive Janata Dal, or AIPJD for "short", was a splinter off the JD (U) that left the Vajpayee government midways through the last legislature, but faltered two months or so before the national elections because it's two best known politicians died (one of them, a respected elder statesman and former state PM of Karnataka, was in his 80s. The other one, the day-to-day chairman really, just toppled over from a heart attack at 60.) Most position-seekers in the party then fled the sinking boat, mostly joining the JD (S).

[Democratic Hawk]

The original Janata Party (or Janata Dal, or Freedom Party. The 2nd is Hindi, the 3rd is English, the 1st is...whatever) was an alliance of five opposition parties of different hues (Socialists, Hindu Fundies, and a Congress splinter, basically) that fought the 1977 on a joint programme and managed to drive Congress from power for the first time.
It quickly faltered in office.
Since then, the Hindu Nationalists (hate that misleading phrase) have been going by Bharatiya Janata Party (Indian Freedom Party). The Socialist wings went by Janata Dal, and later split up several ways. The two main parties of that name, jointly referred to in Indian papers as the "Janata Parivar", are the JD (United), a BJP ally, and the JD (Secular), which refuses to ally with either BJP or Congress. (They are locally allied to the Communists in Kerala, btw.) JD (U) has more seats in parliament, JD (S) probably has more supporters.
And there's a number of smaller groups in the "Janata Parivar". The All India Progressive Janata Dal, or AIPJD for "short", was a splinter off the JD (U) that left the Vajpayee government midways through the last legislature, but faltered two months or so before the national elections because it's two best known politicians died (one of them, a respected elder statesman and former state PM of Karnataka, was in his 80s. The other one, the day-to-day chairman really, just toppled over from a heart attack at 60.) Most position-seekers in the party then fled the sinking boat, mostly joining the JD (S).

Thanks for enlightening me

Dave

[minionofmidas]

I clean forgot to mention Laloo's Rashtriya Janata Dal, which only operates in Bihar and Jharkhand, and the Biju Janata Dal, which only operates in Orissa. Both are essentially personalist parties, the one allied to Congress, the other to the BJP.

Bihar has some fairly weird political alliances...

From the Hindu newspaper
Next state assembly:

JD (U) 88
BJP 55 (fought election together)

RJD 54
INC 9
NCP 1 (Congress splinter)
CPI (M) 1 (chief Communist Party) (fought election together)

Lok Jan Shakti 10 (personalist party / caste vote bank. Loosely allied to Congress in federal politics at the time of the last elections. Operates chiefly in Bihar and UP)
CPI 3 (the other major Communist Party, usually closely allied to the CPIM) (fought election together, together with the Revolutionary Socialist Party and the Forward Bloc, CPI(M)/CPI allies that I thought existed only in West Bengal, and that won no seats)

CPI (ML) (L) 5 (basically the political wing of the Naxalites. The name means Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) (Liberation) )
BSP 4 (Bahusan Samaj Party. personalist /lower caste party. Active across N India)
SP 2 (Samajwadi Party. Ditto. No, they're not allied.)
independents 10
1 seat unaccounted for in the article, no doubt held by some other party.

[ag]

I am pretty sure "Janata" is actually "People's", not "Freedom". BJP is "Indian People's Party". 

Unlike the "Janata Dals" of all stripes, BJP is not really a direct offshoot of the old Janata Dal. Its parent organization is the nationalist RSS movement (if you don't like the term "nationalist" let's use something more local, like "Hindutva").

[minionofmidas]

I am pretty sure "Janata" is actually "People's", not "Freedom". BJP is "Indian People's Party". 

You're right of course. (feels stupid)

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Yes and No. It pretty much joined the old JP as a party (called Jan Sangh at the time) and left it (was thrown out? Not sure.) as a party 27 (26? 30? whatever) months later.