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Jubilant Laloo calls for Bhandari's resignation

Akileshwar Singh in Patna

The mood was one of unbridled joy at 1, Anne Road, official residence of the Bihar chief minister, when news of President K R Narayanan's rejection of the Union Cabinet's recommendation to dismiss the state government arrived.

Ministers of the Bihar cabinet and the nine children of Chief Minister Rabri Devi were distributing sweets to one another and crowding round the television for details of the President's decision.

The telephone kept ringing and congratulatory messages were pouring in as a jubilant Laloo Prasad Yadav -- Rabri Devi's husband and Rashtriya Janata Dal leader -- personally distributed sweets to party colleagues and the scores of journalists who had descended on 1, Anne Road, for his reactions.

Incidentally, sources said, Yadav got wind of the President's decision at 1700 hours IST, reportedly through a senior Congress politician who has some reliable sources at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Further confirmation came when a confidant called him at 2100 hours IST to tell him about the President's decision. This was almost an hour before the President's message reached the Union Cabinet.

Yadav has decided to sacrifice a goat and have a party at his house on Saturday, for which he has invited all his confidants and colleagues. "This is a defeat of the forces of evil. So we must have a new beginning by sacrificing a goat," he said.

Asked what would happen if the Cabinet stuck to its decision, he said, "The BJP should be ashamed to return his decision. Their stand that there is no law and order in Bihar has been exposed. There is no problem in Bihar."

Coming down heavily on Governor Sunder Singh Bhandari, he said, "He should resign immediately. He has misled the nation and caused all the confusion."

Commenting on the President's role, he said, "The President is a saviour of democracy and the downtrodden. He has not only saved the Bihar government but also saved the first woman chief minister of Bihar."

He also said the time had come for a change in government at the Centre. "All secular parties must come together and replace the BJP government which is trying to impose fascist rule all over India," he said.

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