Verma resigns from ministry, seeks anticipatory bail in fodder scam

Union Minister of State for Rural Areas and Employment Chandradev Prasad Verma has resigned from the Gujral government.

Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral asked Verma to resign on Friday morning, following Bihar Governor A R Kidwai's sanction to the Central Bureau of Investigation to prosecute him in in the Rs 9.5 billion animal fodder scam.

The anti-Laloo Prasad Yadav camp in the Janata Dal was elated by the prime minister's decision and claimed that it was a pointer to the Union government's thinking on the ''scam-tainted personalities.

JD leaders feel that Gujral's decision will send the ''right signals'' to the Bihar chief minister whose name also figures in the fodder scam.

Sources said the United Front steering committee, which is scheduled to meet on June 27, would ask Laloo Yadav to step down as Bihar chief minister.

There was a feeling that nothing would move until the CBI filed the formal chargesheet against Yadav and the others accused in the fodder scam.

Verma and Bihar Animal Husbandry Minister Bhola Ram Toofani on Friday filed anticipatory bail applications in the CBI special court in Patna. The court will hear all the bail applications including that of the Bihar chief minister on Monday, June 23.

Opposing Laloo Yadav's bail in the court of Justice S K Lal on Friday, CBI counsel R L Ansari said the agency had enough evidence against the chief minister. The counsel said Laloo Yadav could use his high-profile stature to influence witnesses if he was granted bail.

Arguing for the petitioner, P N Pandey said there was no evidence against Laloo Yadav and he was being implicated on mere conjecture. He said charges levelled against the chief minister by the CBI did not constitute any offence, leave alone criminal offence. Besides, he argued that Laloo Yadav has no criminal antecedent and would not misuse the liberty of the anticipatory bail.

Laloo Yadav is the first chief minister in independent India to seek anticipatory bail.

Meanwhile, the Bihar Janata Dal legislature party has expressed confidence in Laloo Yadav's leadership. Of the 165 JDLP members, 30 boycotted the meeting held at the chief minister's home.

Laloo Yadav's opponents claimed that only 80 legislators attended the meeting; the chief minister's supporters, on the other hand, claimed the presence of 152 members besides some MPs.

A resolution adopted at the meeting said Laloo Yadav was being ''falsely implicated'' in the fodder scam.

Laloo Yadav's detractors, however, presented a different picture. A meeting held at former state revenue minister Inder Singh Namdhari's home warned the chief minister against engineering a split in the party's state unit. A letter to this effect, signed by 30 legislators, was sent to the chief minister.

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Laloo Yadav files anticipatory bail plea