FINANCE COMMISSION-Beginning on a False Note

come together on a single platform might turn out to be an extremely temporary nature. Just as the death of Charan Singh deprived the Lok Dal of a leader of a national stature and led to its split, Karpuri Thakur's death has dealt a blow to Lok Dal(B) which with a regional satrap like Devi Lal as its leader may soon find itself shrunk into a local political faction without any leverage on the national scene, This might well compel Devi Lal to join the Janata. As for the Janata Party, although Chandra Shekhar has named Ajit Singh of the Lok Dal(A) as the president of the unified party, veterans with a popular base like Rama- krjshna Hegde or Biju Patnaik may not accept the imposition of a young outsider as their leader. If more parties and groups join the Janata Party, their leaders will have to be satisfied with important berths in the new unified party. Knowing the craze for positions of these power-hungry politicians one can well imagine the scramble that will follow even before the new party can emerge into a viable alternative force.