Laloo cries foul as BJP, CPM go on the offensive
Bihar Chief Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav cried foul, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) demanded his resignation, and the Bharatiya Janata Party-sponsored rail roko paralysed train traffic throughout Bihar.
That, in sum, describes the fallout of Bihar Governor A R Kidwai's decision, on Tuesday, to sanction the prosecution of state chief minister and Janata Dal president Laloo Prasad Yadav in the multi-million fodder scam.
Dubbing Kidwai's decision "hasty" and "born out of political pressure", Laloo Prasad demanded that the CBI make public the chargesheet filed against him, and leave it to the public to debate the rights and wrongs of the charge.
Significantly, Laloo Prasad's first reaction was to categorically state that he would neither resign the chief ministership, nor was there any question of his withdrawing from the impending elections for the presidentship of the Janata Dal - a post he currently holds, and for his continued tenure in which he is facing a stiff challenge from JD senior leader Sharad Yadav.
Analysts however see indications that the rift in the ranks of the JD is widening, with pro- and anti-Laloo factions increasingly hardening in their respective stands.
Thus, while Laloo Yadav himself indicated that all decisions regarding the impending elections to the party presidentship would be taken by the JD executive after deliberations between senior leaders, party chief whip in the Bihar assembly Ravindra Charan Yadav has summoned a meeting of the legislators on June 19, with an open-ended agenda. Sources indicate that the question of Yadav's continuance as party boss and chief minister is likely to dominate the discussions.
"There is no question of putting up a consensus president for the JD," Laloo Yadav told the media in Patna. "I am a candidate in the elections and I am determined to fight it out to the end."
The BJP, meanwhile, flexed its political muscle in the state with a rail roko agitation that halted movement of all rail traffic through the state for 24 hours. "Our agitation, in support of our demand for the immediate resignation of Laloo Yadav as Bihar chief minister, succeeded because the people of the state have become totally fed up of his corruption and misrule," said state BJP president Sushil Kumar Modi.
Admitting that the agitation had caused hardship to rail passengers, Modi said that the BJP had taken the agitational step as Laloo Yadav appeared to be increasingly deaf to the calls for his resignation. "Over 5,000 of our party workers have been arrested and thrown into jail, but we are determined to carry on the agitation till Laloo Yadav realises that he cannot cling on to power any longer," Modi said.
The success of the agitation was attested to by divisional railway manager (Danapur division) S K Madan, who told the media that "running of all long distance trains through the state have been severely affected." There were, Madan added, no reports of violence or any other untoward incidents during the stir.
BJP spokesperson Yeshwant Sinha, meanwhile, told the media in New Delhi that the central government should dismiss the government in Bihar in the event Laloo Yadav did not voluntarily resign the chief ministership. "We will step up the pace of the agitation till this intolerable situation is ended," Sinha said.
Meanwhile, both the Communist Party of India and the CPI(M) joined the BJP and the Samata Party in demanding the immediate resignation of Laloo Yadav. "Now that... Kidwai has sanctioned his prosecution, Laloo Yadav has no option left but to resign his post," CPM general secretary Harkishen Singh Surjeet told the media.
"Laloo Yadav should resign immediately... to facilitate the ongoing investigations into the fodder scam," said CPI spokesperson Atul Kumar Anjaan. Interestingly, the CPI appeared intent on claiming brownie points for having spearheaded the agitation against the Bihar chief minister, with Anjaan taking pains to point out that the CPI had in fact demanded Yadav's resignation, at a public rally in Patna, as early as November 7, 1966. "We also led a Bihar bandh on the 12th and 13th of this month, reiterating the same demand," Anjaan said.
Senior leaders of the CPM and CPI are scheduled to meet in Patna on Thursday to chalk out a common agitational programme to press for the resignation of the Bihar chief minister. "We are inviting leaders of other democratic parties to join our meeting," Anjaan said.
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