Laloo defiant, refuses to quit

Even as the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Left parties called for his resignation, a defiant Laloo Prasad Yadav said he would not quit as Bihar's chief minister.

"Merely filing a chargesheet does not make a person guilty," he said, commenting on the Central Bureau of Investigation's move to chargesheet him in the animal fodder scam. Yadav also ruled out the dissolution of the state assembly, saying that any such step would amount to accepting his guilt.

The chief minister said the CBI decision is part of a "conspiracy" to dislodge him from power. He said he would reveal the conspirators's names after ten days.

CBI Director Joginder Singh, Yadav said, should have disclosed his decision in the Patna high court which was monitoring the case, instead of announcing it on Sunday. He alleged that the CBI decision was taken and subsequently revealed in ''mysterious circumstances'' without informing and seeking permission from the authorities. He said he would resign only if he was proved guilty by the court.

Meanwhile, the CBI is preparing letters seeking sanction to prosecute Yadav, his two cabinet colleagues and Union Minister of State for Rural Areas and Employment Chandra Deo Prasad Verma, in the Rs 9.5 biillion animal fodder scam case.

Agency sources said the letters would be delivered to the sanctioning authorities within two days. While the President is the sanctioning authority in Verma's case, the Bihar governor must grant his assent to proceed against Yadav and his cabinet colleagues, Vidya Sagar Nishad (labour) and Bhola Ram Toofani (animal husbandary).

In the case of the IAS officers -- Phul Chand Singh, development commissioner; Mahesh Prasad, secretary, science and technology; Beck Julius, secretary, animal husbandry and fisheries, and Sajal Chakravarty, former divisional commissioner, Chaibasa -- sanction is being sought from both the state and central governments.

The BJP says it will launch a four-day agitation from Tuesday -- in the form of dharnas, demonstrations and burning of effigies -- to press for Yadav's exit. If the CM does not resign by May 2, the BJP-Samata Party will organise a Bihar Bandh on May 3 to force him to resign.

BJP spokesman Yashwant Sinha said L K Advani, former Delhi chief minister Madan Lal Khurana, Congress ministers V C Shukla, Balram Jakhar and Madhavrao Scindia had resigned even before they were chargesheeted. Yadav too, he said, should resigned before waiting to be chargesheeted.

The leaders of four Left parties -- the Communist Party of India-Marxist, the Communist Party of India, the All India Forward Bloc and the Revolutionary Socialist Party -- also demanded on Monday that the Bihar chief minister step down from office and along with others face judicial proceedings. ''This is necessary to conform to the norms of public conduct and propriety,'' the leaders said in a statement.