JD top brass intensifies 'oust Laloo Yadav' campaign

Tara Shankar Sahay in New Delhi

Top Janata Dal leaders on Thursday stepped up their efforts to throw Bihar Chief Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav out of the party following his refusal to quit in the wake of state Governor A R Kidwai's sanction for his prosecution in the Rs 9.50 billion fodder scam.

According to senior functionaries of the JD, party secretary-general Ram Vilas Paswan has been authorised by the leadership to summon the political affairs committee (PAC) which would decide Laloo Yadav's fate.

Significantly, JD presidential candidate Sharad Yadav, Paswan, former prime minister H D Deve Gowda and others met Prime Minister I K Gujral on Thursday morning. They told him that Laloo Yadav was a liability who had to be thrown out of the party immediately. When Gujral tried to take a ''soft'' stand, his senior party colleagues curtly told him that, if the party had to survive, Laloo Yadav should be shown the door.

Senior UF leader Chandrababu Naidu and several left leaders had already warned Gujral that the party president's alleged involvement in the scam cannot be overlooked because of his stature as a mass leader.

Addressing mediapersons at his Akbar Road residence, Sharad Yadav however merely pointed out that Laloo Yadav should take into consideration the JD's ideals and democratic traditions before he decides to continue as the Bihar chief minister.

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