Rebels in a fix, but refuse to give up yet

A day after the decision on continuance of Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi the rebels had overcome the initial shock and disbelief of what they termed as an "unexpected" turn of things.

Despite state NDA convenor Nand Kishore Yadav telling media here on Monday, "It is all over now. He (Modi) is our leader. We stand united under him," signals from the rebel camp indicate that last word is yet to be spoken.

Apparently taken off-guard by the development, they seem confused over what to do next. However, they dismissed any suggestion of break in their ranks and said that they expect some "corrective measures" from the high command over the next few days.

"Even if nothing is done we are not going to take any step that would harm the party but we reserve the right to oppose any step of the state leadership that we deem against the organisation’s interests," said one of the rebels leader.

Another one said, "The onus of running the party, winning back the support of the MLAs and guiding the party to victory in the Lok Sabha elections now lies with them. If we feel unwanted, we would campaign for party candidates in other states," he said.

Modi for his part has been magnanimous in victory, "This is not a victory or defeat for anybody. I would try to remove the deficiencies in myself." The rebels would be watching whether his deeds jell with the stated position.