Left mounts pressure on PM for Laloo's resignation

Tara Shankar Sahay in New Delhi

The Left parties are mounting pressure on Prime Minister I K Gujral asking him to seek Bihar Chief Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav's resignation following CBI chief Joginder Singh's announcement on Sunday that he and 55 others would be chargesheeted in the Rs 9.5 billion fodder scam.

Refusing to step down, Yadav said in Patna that he would fight it out and go to people for justice. Taking cue from Yadav's statement, his supporters have launched an aggressive campaign in New Delhi's New Bihar Niwas to protect their leader. Alleging that Yadav's detractors were trying to victimise him and rob him of his political base, they raised slogans like ''Hamara neta Laloo Yadav'' (our leader is Laloo Yadav) at New Bihar Niwas on Monday afternoon.

Reports filtering in from Patna suggest that Yadav is now pinning his hopes on red-tapism. He feels this will delay the official sanction required from state Governor Shafi Qureshi for chargesheeting him.

He is also said to be using all the resources at his disposal to force Gujral to soft-pedal the issue. Helping him in this regard is Janata Dal working president Sharad Yadav.

Equally confident of his ouster are the Left parties. CPI-M general secretary Harkishan Singh Surjeet said a meeting involving his party, the CPI, the Forward Bloc and the RSP decided that the Bihar chief minister should resign immediately. Even Union Minister of Rural Affairs C P Verma, also allegedly involved in the fodder scam, should go, they decided.

The Left's demand shows that despite the facade of unity the United Front is plagued by palace intrigues and petty jealousies which could spell doom for the government.

Laloo Yadav's bete noire within the JD, former prime minister Deve Gowda is elated with the Bihar chief minister's plight. Deve Gowda incurred Yadav's wrath for his refusal to slow down the investigations into the scam.

Deve Gowda has reportedly met Railway Minister Ram Vilas Paswan who is reportedly eyeing the Bihar chief minister's post. Paswan is considered closer to Deve Gowda than Yadav. Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav is also understood to have contacted Paswan on Monday. According to a senior SP MP, the party chief is in touch with the Bihar chief minister's detractors in a bid to 'dethrone him.'