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RLM leaders call for Vajpayee's resignation over Jaya's bribery charge

The Rashtriya Loktantrik Morcha leaders today sought the resignation of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in the wake of allegations levelled by the BJP's principal ally and AIADMK leader J Jayalalitha, that money was taken by persons close to Vajpayee to effect some transfers.

The Morcha demanded a joint parliamentary committee probe into the matter to nail down the culprits.

The Morcha leaders, speaking on the occasion of the inauguration of the RLM headquarters in New Delhi, said Vajpayee should quit on moral grounds as the main ally of the ruling coalition had raised serious doubts about the fairness of the BJP-led government.

Rashtriya Janata Dal president Laloo Prasad Yadav favoured investigations by a joint parliamentary committee and the Central Bureau of Investigation into Jayalalitha's allegations, and said simple denial of the charges would not restore the people's confidence in the prime minister's office. ''Steps must be initiated immediately to expose the culprits,'' he said.

The Morcha leaders were reacting to Jayalalitha's charge in Madras that Enforcement Directorate chief M K Bezbaruah had been transferred after people ''close to the prime minister'' received hefty bribes from some newspaper proprietors against whom the said officer was pursuing FERA violation cases.

On the occasion, the Morcha issued a policy paper appealing to the anti-BJP forces to join hands to topple the central government which it said, was being run by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh from behind the scenes.

The paper said the Morcha would wage a relentless struggle against forces trying to weaken democratic institutions.

Most of the leaders in their addresses were highly critical of the Vajpayee government for its alleged failure on all fronts, and said the rejection of the Srikrishna report into the 1993 Bombay riots had unmasked the real designs of the Shiv Sena-BJP combine in Maharashtra.

RLM chief Mulayam Singh Yadav announced that they would shortly hold a rally in Bombay calling for the implementation of the Srikrishna report and to demand stringent action against the culprits.

He emphatically denied reports that the Morcha had been formed to grab power and said the RLM would mobilise people against both internal and external threats to the country.

The Morcha headquarters was opened at South Avenue in Delhi amid the beating of drums and shouting of slogans.

UNI

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