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Rabri's brother leads the rebellion against Laloo

Tara Shankar Sahay in New Delhi

Panic is spreading in the Rashtriya Janata Dal with reports that outspoken party MLA and brother of Chief Minister Rabri Devi Sadhu Yadav and senior leader Maheshwar Prasad Yadav have been contacted by the National Democratic Alliance leadership. The two Yadavs have raised a storm in Bihar by criticising the husband-wife team of Laloo and Rabri and demanding their ouster from the party.

Top Bharatiya Janata Party sources today indicated that the "evident rebellion" against the RJD chief and the chief minister by Sadhu Yadav and Maheshwar Prasad Yadav was "sweet music'' to their ears.

They pointed out that Laloo Yadav's strident claims about solid unity in his party was a myth and "he is finding it extremely difficult to keep his flock together."

In his letter written to Laloo yesterday, Maheshwar Yadav urged him to rise over family considerations and hand over the party and the government to "honest and dedicated persons."

Sources claimed that the Bihar unit of the Janata Dal (United) has been approached by at least eight RJD MLAs who want to cross over.

According to JD (U) spokesman Mohan Prakash, "Laloo's goose is cooked and he knows it."

BJP spokesman Venkaiah Naidu felt that although it had taken some years for "Laloo's jungle raj to be exposed, the truth had finally come out and the electorate in the state had decisively rejected the RJD misrule."

''It is only a matter of time that the BJP-JD (U) combine in Bihar will dislodge the Laloo-Rabri rule," Naidu contended.

The leader of the Opposition in the Bihar assembly and senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi is understood to have submitted a report to the central party leadership underlining the fact that the opportunity was ripe for striking against the RJD chief.

RJD spokesman Shahid Mazdoor, however, played down the developments in Patna. Mazdoor said the Laloo's detractors would be disappointed because he is "still full control of party affairs."

"Discordant notes natural after a defeat in the elections. But, that does not mean we are finished,'' he said.

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