Split in JD inevitable, says Jaipal Reddy

Information and Broadcasting Minister and United Front spokesperson S Jaipal Reddy believes a split in the Janata Dal is inevitable because of Bihar Chief Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav's adamant attitude.

In an informal chat with the media at his ministerial office in New Delhi, Reddy -- a senior leader of the Janata Dal, the main constituent in the 13-party United Front coalition -- pointed out that a split in the party was unavoidable with a majority of senior party members committed to holding the Janata Dal's presidential election on Thursday and Laloo Yadav determined to oppose it on the grounds of manipulated voters's lists for the poll.

While underlining that his last conversation with Yadav was on Sunday evening, Reddy said he had requested the Bihar chief minister to stay with the Janata Dal. However, the JD presidential poll now remained a formality since Laloo Yadav would not budge from his stance of splitting the party and forming a separate one, the Front spokesman pointed out.

Reddy refuted the journalists's views that there had been some kind of quid pro quo between Prime Minister I K Gujral and Laloo Yadav in the replacement of Central Bureau of Investigation chief Joginder Singh with R C Sharma. Soon after taking over, Sharma said that arrests of politicians would be an exception rather than the rule, generating speculation that there had been a political trade-off between the prime minister and the Bihar chief minister.

The CBI, which is investigating the Rs 9.5 billion fodder scam, told the court in Patna on Monday that it would not arrest Laloo Yadav till July 21.

However, Reddy appeared to have a difficult time in answering questions on why Joginder Singh had been transferred so abruptly even as the investigation into the fodder scam had reached a critical stage. Most of the reporters who attended Reddy's press conference asserted that the CBI chief had been replaced to benefit the United Front government.

Reddy replied that Gujral was fully within his rights to transfer the CBI director who had displayed excessive exhibitionism. He said the transfer was purely administrative in nature and needless speculation need not be based on it.

If Laloo Yadav thought the temporary reprieve granted by the CBI was to benefit him, Reddy added, he was gravely mistaken. "Laloo's capacity for self-deception should never be underestimated," the I&B minister added.

Reddy said any further patch-up effort in the Dal to restore peace between the warring factions headed by JD working president Sharad Yadav and Laloo Yadav "was like chasing a mirage." He also pointed out that in the event of a split in the Dal, the central ministers from Bihar would go along with Laloo Yadav, adding that he did not think the Gujral government would fall following the crisis in the Janata Dal.