Railway minister Ram Vilas Paswan, yesterday indicated that the Laloo Prasad Yadav government might be dismissed in near future in view of the Chief Ministers obstinacy to stick to the chair despite being chargesheeted in the fodder scam.
Paswan, during a brief stopover here, openly criticised the Bihar Chief Minister for the first time and stated that the United Front government would not compromise on the issue of corruption and the Prime Minister, I K Gujral, had already signalled drastic measures to root out corruption.
Newly elected Janata Dal president, Sharad Yadav, who accompanied Paswan alongwith former Union minister Devendra Prasad Yadav said that it was wrong to dub I K Gujral as a weak prime minister.
The JD president while defending the Prime Minister said that Gujral is a matured person and takes decision purely on merit. Asking the media persons not to misinterpret Gujrals recent statement regarding Laloo Prasad Yadav, the Janata Dal president said that Gujral was infact exhorting the masses to revolt and launch a movement against corruption.
He refused to comment on invoking of Article 356 in Bihar saying that it was the prerogative of the Centre.
He said that the United Front believed in moral values and it would never compromise on issues relating to corruption. He, however, admitted that there were differences among the partners over the use of Article 356.
The railway minister who arrived here to lay the foundation stone of a new broad gauge rail line project and to inaugurate the General Managers office of East Central railways said that his ministry was forced to purchase 200 acres of land as the state government did not respond to ministrys plea for making available the land.
He told mediapersons that the Chief Minister had strengthened the communal forces by not tendering the resignation.
He should have stepped down immediately after governor, A R Kidwai, granted sanction to CBI plea to prosecute him in the fodder scam.
Paswan said that he was not in favour of the dissolution of the State Assembly but favoured a change in the leadership. He charged the Chief Minister with breaking the party and leaving the party of which he was the president.
The railway minister accepted the challenge of the Chief Minister to contest from his Hajipur parliamentary constituency as the people were eager to teach him a lesson, and declared that he would not change his constituency.
I am indebted to the people of Hajipur who have helped me in registering my name in guiness book of world record. Paswan also dared the Chief Minister not to change his assembly constituency Raghopur which is a part of Hajipur parliamentary seat.
The railway minister claimed that he has done a lot for the development of Bihar and would continue in his endevour. The former Union minister, Devendra Prasad Yadav, went a step further and asked Laloo Prasad Yadav to select a constituency and he would fight against him. He also declared that he would do so by resigning his Jhanjarpur parliamentary seat. The former minister maintained that Laloo Yadav government had failed on all fronts and claimed that what Laloo has done in seven years the United Front government had achieved in seen months. He was referring to the measures taken to uplift the lot of the poor.
According to Devendra Prasad Yadav, during the seven years of Laloos misrule people were subjected to great hardships in the name of social justice. Later addressing party legislators Ram Bilas Paswan and Sahard Yadav asked them to organise a massive rally at the Gandhi Maidan here to prove to Laloo that people were with the original Janata Dal. They said that all those who had been challenged by Yadav in the past had won the seats comfortably. They cited the example of Lovely Anand, Anand Mohan, Nitish Kumar, Pappu Yadav and others.
