A large number of Bihar Janata Dal MPs yesterday bypassed the party leadership and met president Shanker Dayal Sharma, seeking his intervention for a report from the CBI on the suicide of a fodder scam accused, Harish Khandelwal, last week.
Most of these MPs owe their Lok Sabha seats to Bihar Chief Minister and Dal president Laloo Prasads popularity. None of the senior Dal leaders have so far supported Laloo in his refusal to quit as Chief Minister of Bihar and president of the Janata Dal.
The MPs led by Prasad loyalists M A A Fatmi and Ram Kripal Yadav, presented a memorandum to the President. They were also to submit similar memorandums to Prime Minsiter I K Gujral, home minsiter Indrajit Gupta and Justice M Venkatachellaiah, who is the chairman of the Human Rights Commission.