Basu Wants Rjd To Be Kept Out Of Uf Till Laloos Resignation

West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu has said Rashtriya Janata Dal should be kept out the ruling United Front if Bihar Chief Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav continued with his adamant stand of not stepping down in the wake of CBI chargesheet against him in the fodder scam.

If he resigns, RJD can stay as part of the United Front coalition, otherwise not, Basu, on a visit here, told newspersons on Sunday. The right course for Laloo Prasad Yadav in present circumstances would be to step down to prove his innocence, in the face of the chargesheet, Basu said.

On stepping down, Basu said Laloo could hand over power to a successor of his choice, till he was cleared of the charges against him.

The West Bengal Chief Minister expressed concern at the recent political bickerings within the United Front but said at the moment he did not visulalise any immediate threat to the government.

He said the recent political happenings and withdrawal of support by the Congress to the Gowda government had raised the spectre of instability among the masses.

He said the United Front government was a new experiment at the Centre after success of coalitions in the states.

He admitted there had been setbacks in making 14 parties work under a minimum programme we are learning from our mistakes.

But we think the future is of coalitions in India.

Asked why Congress President Sitaram Kesri had withdrwn support to the previous government, Basu said, I still havent been able to understand it. In fact, I had asked Kesri about it but I got no answer.

When asked if he apprehended Congress doing the same thing again, the communist leader said, I dont know... You should ask that party.