I can strike off Deve Gowda's name of from the primary membership of the party, Laloo Prasad told a colleague, giving example of his authority over the Prime Minister in the party. In contrast to this, what authority will I have on Kesari, Yadav has told his supporters.
The Bihar Chief Minister appears to have regained a good part of his self confidence that he had lost after his name got embroiled in the multi-crore fodder scam, his colleagues who have interacted with him in the last four days of his stay here said. Laloo Prasad is here for the two-day national camp of the Janata Dal.
According to his colleagues, Laloo Prasad now feels the number of his kind of politicians is growing by the day with more politicians being dragged into controversies.
At a gathering of his supporters, comparing himself with the Prime Minister, the Chief Minister said his children had never been to a foreign country despite his having been in power for over seven years, whereas the Deve Gowda's grand-children had accompanied him on his first trip abroad as Prime Minister.
Yadav said if the United Front wanted to remove him from his post, it would also have to remove Assam Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta because he was also facing a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into a similar fodder scam.
The new-found confidence of the Bihar Chief Minister also stems from the fact that the BJP, the Congress and the Samata Party, which is an ally of the BJP, have all failed to take advantage of the fodder scam to win public support.
It is this confidence of Laloo Yadav that is reflected in his new offensive towards his friends-turned-foe Left parties who have made corruption a major plank to attack the Chief Minister.
Laloo has promised the biggest ever rally in Patna of his supporters as a counter to the Left parties' rally against corruption.
The Chief Minister's supporters say he is now trying to bring about a change in his constituency by showing a reconciliatory attitude towards the upper castes.
A large number of vacancies that have been filled recently in the state government have been given to upper caste candidates.
