Congress, Jmm All Set To Support Laloo

All eyes are focussed on the monsoon session of the Bihar Assembly beginning in Patna today, as the United Front has left the decision on the RJD, the breakaway faction of the Janata Dal, joining the Front to its steering committee, the Front's policy-making body.

Political forces demanding the dismissal or resignation of Laloo Prasad as Chief Minister in the wake of the CBI deciding to charge him in the Rs 950 crore fodder scam, seem to have already realised that there is little chance of a no-confidence motion against Prasad succeeding in the Assembly.

They have now changed their strategy and are now working to ensure that Laloo Prasad does not succeed in bringing up a confidence motion in the House, which he is most likely to win with ease with support of MLAs from the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and Congress.

 

There were enough indications in Patna yesterday that both the Congress and the JMM(s) have decided to bail out the Yadav government, which was reduced to a minority following split in the Janta Dal at national level on July 5.

JMM(s) supremo, Shibu Soren and its vice-president, Suraj Mandal, told Business Standard that there was no hurry to take a decision since the trust vote would be sought on Tuesday. Both the leaders declined that the JMM(s) legislature would ultimately decide in favour of Yadav as it became evident on Sunday with the chief secretary, B P Verma holding discussions with these two leaders for half an hour at the state guest house.

Admitting that the chief secretary discussed the JAAC and the state government's decision to delegate more powers to the defunct Council, these leaders said that unless we receive the copy of the notification granting more powers to JAAC, how can we say the council has been given more powers. Sources close to these leaders, however, said that the chief secretary was asked to provide cabinet rank to its vice chairman.

The vice chairman of the JAAC, Suraj Mandal, who was once considered as the shadow Chief Minister of Bihar said that in case the chief ministers was serious about the uplift of the Jharkhand region and mitigating the problems of the poor jharkhandis, he should present a bill in the Assembly on the lines of the UP government creating a separate Uttarkhand state. If he does so the controversy regarding the Jharkhand would be decided fro once and all. Mandal also claimed that the chief minister has apologised to the people of Jharkhand region for his dithering attitude towards the Jharkhand Area Autonomous Council.

The support of either the Congress or the JMM(s) is a must for the RJD chief since he had so far succeeded in enlisting the support of 136 erstwhile JD MLAs and 13 independents so far. He is still short of 14 members of the lower house to reach the magic figure of 163 for obtaining absolute majority in the House of 324 members.

Meanwhile, with the 16 member JMM(s) legislature party almost taking a decision in favour of the Laloo government, it had also defeated the plans of the opposition parties to defeat the Laloo government on the floor of the House and thats why they were asking the president to interevene. The JMMs decision has also put the Congress into a fix as Laloo would not be needing their support in the event of JMMs and other Jharkhand parties coming to his aid following his announcement to give sweeping powers to the JAAC.

The Congress Legislature party meeting, which met here yesterday to take stock of the political situation, was more than willing to support the fledgling Rashtriya Janta Dal government in Bihar on the issues of secularism, social cohesion and the fight against corruption.

Talking to newsmen, Congress legislature party leader, Ramashray Prasad Singh, said he would be informing the AICC president about the feelings of the party legislators and would take a decision about supporting the Laloo government after a clear cut directive from him.

He also said that his party would not associate with other opposition parties to obstruct the proceedings of the House to press for the dismissal of the Yadav government. It will set a bad example if we participate with Bihar opposition parties to disrupt the proceedings of the House even during the obituary references.

Interestingly, the BJP, which has been extremely active against Laloo Prasad, appears tired as it is caught in a bind over whether to press for the dismissal of the government or not.

They would rather welcome his dismissal but would not like to be seen demanding the use of Article 356 on an opposition government by the ruling United Front.

The United Front itself is sharply divided on what should be done in Bihar. Even the CPI, which is in the forefront of an agitation in the state to dislodge Laloo Prasad, has changed its strategy.

The CPI had announced with great fanfare last month that it would move a no-confidence in the state Assembly against Laloo Prasad. The party has now abandoned the idea, realising that Laloo is most likely to survive the no-confidence. Such a motion would ensure that Laloo does not face another challenge in the next six months. It might also have resulted in the Left and the BJP voting together to dislodge Prasad.

The detractors of Laloo Prasad in the Janata Dal now look defeated as they realise he is holding on and his MLAs are not willing to change sides.

They are blaming Prime Minister I K Gujral, who continues to be in the Janata Dal, for this. Maintaining a stony silence in public, the leaders of Janata Dal are quite open when it comes to expressing their views privately. They complain bitterly that their plans failed because Laloo Prasad was yet to be arrested in connection with the fodder scam.

Their calculation was that once the CBI filed a charge sheet and arrested Laloo, there would be a flux of MLAs from his camp to that of the Janata Dal.

The Prime Minister has made his stand clear - he does not support Laloo Prasad continuing as Chief Minister after being charged in the fodder scam, but he does not want to dump Prasad, but would rather continue the pressure on him to quit.

Moreover, Gujral would not like the supporters of Laloo Prasad, including the MLAs and MPs belong to the RJD, to be penalised by the United Front for the deeds of Laloo. The RJD has openly announced its unconditional support to the United Front government.

With most regional parties favouring the inclusion of the RJD into the United Front, and even the Janata Dal leaving the decision to the United Front, the fate of the three RJD ministers in the Gujral cabinet also depends on the steering committee.

The committee is likely to be called only if the standing committee - a smaller group of senior leaders of the Front partners - is able to sort out the differences in the Front in its meeting on July 18.