Laloo sacks four Bihar ministers for backing rival

Infighting in the Janata Dal further aggravated with party chief and Bihar Chief Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav sacking four of his senior-most Cabinet colleagues on Friday night.

Raj Bhavan sources said the four ministers recommended for dismissal are Rural Development Minister Ramai Ram, Institutional Finance Minister Magni Lal Mandal, Urban Development Minister Bijendra Yadav and Agriculture Minister Ramjeevan Singh.

These ministers had been playing a pivotal role in the dissident activities and had come out openly against the chief minister. They also shared the platform with party working president and JD presidential candidate Sharad Yadav during a rally on Friday afternoon in Patna.

Official sources said Governor A R Kidwai would in all likelihood accept the chief minister's recommendation.

Soon after his return from Delhi on Wednesday Laloo Yadav had indicated strict disciplinary action against the dissident ministers and legislators though he was making last-ditch efforts to woo them.

Another head rolled in Bihar on Friday, when state Janata Dal president Kamal Paswan expelled state youth Janata Dal president Tanvir Hassan from his post.

Paswan said that Hassan has been removed from his post for his anti-party role. Hassan openly criticised Laloo Yadav at Sharad Yadav's rally and demanded his resignation.

Meanwhile, the consent of senior JD leaders Madhu Dandavate and Jaipal Reddy for their appointment as supervisors to oversee the work of national returning officer P K Samantaray in conducting the June 10 JD presidential poll was still awaited. The two leaders are out of the capital.

The Delhi high court, while hearing various writ petitions concerning the poll, on Friday suggested the names of the two senior leaders. Initially, the court said Dandavate and Surendra Mohan should be the returning officers for the poll. However, as the latter was unavailable and the former expressed his inability to function as a returning officer if the present incumbents were removed, the court felt that Reddy and Dandavate may supervise the poll.

Geetanjali Anand, counsel for Laloo Yadav, said that the judge had proposed that the two leaders be with him on Saturday morning in an effort to dispose of the case with their consultation. But they could not do so as Dandavate had left for Calcutta on Saturday morning and Reddy had not returned from Hyderabad.

In another development, Gautam Sagar Rana, senior JD leader and member of the Bihar Legislative Council, resigned as the party's chief whip in the House.

Rana said on Saturday that he had already sent his resignation to state Parliamentary Affairs Minister Raghunath Jha on Thursday.

EARLIER STORY:
'You can't fool around with Laloo Yadav'
Make Dandavate, Surendra Mohan returning officers for JD presidential poll: Delhi high court