Laloo Yadav running the risk of splitting JD: E M S

D Jose in Thiruvanathapuram

Communist Party of India-Marxist patriarch E M S Namboodiripad has demanded Laloo Prasad Yadav's resignation as Bihar chief minister as well as Janata Dal president.

In a talk on the Asianet television channel, he said Yadav should step down as the Central Bureau of Investigation has sought executive permission to prosecute him in the Rs 9.5-billion fodder scam.

"There is no differences between the JD and the Congress now," Namboodiripad said, "The failure to remove Yadav from the party presidency has caused undue embarrassment to the JD as well as the United Front government."

Namboodiripad averred Yadav was sticking on to his post so as to organise an agitation against the CBI. The Bihar chief minister had accused the CBI of implicating him in the case at the bid of his political foes.

The political developments in the wake of the CBI requesting the Bihar governor for permission to prosecute Laloo have plunged both the Janata Dal and the United Front into a serious crisis. JD members themselves now wanted Yadav to resign. By refusing to quit, Yadav was running the risk of splitting his party, Namboodiripad said.

He claimed Yadav was helping the Congress cause by turning against the CBI. He reminded viewers that the Congress's main charge against the H D Deve Gowda government was that it had not discouraged investigations against its leaders. And now, Yadav was behaving the same way.

The CBI cases against the Congress leaders, the Namboodiripad continued, reflects the popular feeling that the corrupt should be punished. Anyone who has done wrong should be dealt with according to the law, irrespective of caste and political considerations.