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Keep off Vananchal, BJP warns Laloo

The Bharatiya Janata Party today warned Rashtriya Janata Dal president and former Bihar chief minister Laloo Prasad Yadav that he would be ''digging his own grave'' if he tried to whip up passions and create a law-and-order problem in the state on the Vananchal question.

The warning came from BJP general secretary M Venkaiah Naidu in a sharp reaction to the RJD leader's threats made yesterday.

Naidu said, ''A desperately cornered Laloo is obviously looking for ways and means to arouse parochial passions and create a serious law-and-order problem in Bihar. This is to show his muscle power. If he does so, he will be digging his own grave.''

Naidu said if Yadav really loved Bihar, the state would have not been brought to the present sorry pass after eight years of ''misrule''.

He pointed out that the people of the Jharkhand region themselves were asking for a separate state since the southern part of Bihar is neglected and underdeveloped.

The BJP leader accused Yadav of deliberately forgetting the all-party resolution adopted by the Bihar assembly for the creation of Jharkhand state. Yadav had backed that resolution when he needed the support of Jharkhand legislators. Now that he is fighting with his back to the wall, he is trying to arouse majority passions and swing in the opposite direction, Naidu said.

Naidu pointed out that the assembly resolution to create a separate state was not final. Parliament can go ahead with the proposed legislation.

Reiterating the BJP's commitment to the creation of Vananchal, Naidu hoped the fresh legislation would get the full support of other parties in the assembly and Parliament.

UNI

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