Prime Minister I K Gujral yesterday intervened for the first time in the acute crisis in the Janata Dal, and invited both Laloo Prasad and Sharad Yadav to his house for a settlement.
Prasad yesterday counted MPs supporting him, indicating that he would remain the president of the party even if he has to float his own. He claimed support of 30 MPs, including 21 from the Lok Sabha.
The intransigence on the part of Bihar Chief Minister and his opponent, Sharad Yadav, has pushed the Dal to the brink of a split.
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Before the meeting with Gujral, all senior leaders of the Dal put their heads together to solve the crisis at a dinner hosted by Planning Commission deputy chairman Madhu Dandavate at his residence.
The dinner meeting, which was also attended by Laloo Prasad and Yadav, was in progress at the time of filing of this report.
Laloo Prasad yesterday openly favoured intervention by senior leaders and the Prime Minister to avert the crisis. Laloo wanted to force Sharad Yadav out of the contest.
His supporters claimed that Gujral has not been intervening in the crisis as Sharad Yadav had not wanted him to do so.
Sharad has been maintaining that he was in touch with the Prime Minister.
Party secretary Wasim Ahmed, who is known for his proximity to former Prime Minister VP Singh, yesterday said that Singh wanted him to convey to all that he was not siding with either Prasad or Yadav and that he had never meddled in the internal affairs of the party.
Laloo Prasad got a boost in his campaign when railway minister Ramvilas Paswan yesterday clarified that he never asked for Prasads resignation as Chief Minister. Paswan earlier had a luncheon meeting with Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and United Front convenor Chandra Babu Naidu.
He said that what he had stated on Sunday in Chennai was that Prasad, who is contesting for the top party post, would have to resign as president of the party in the event of losing the election.
Laloo Prasad and Sharad Yadav were the only two candidates left in the fray yesterday after the deadline for withdrawal of candidatures expired last evening, partys returning officer P K Samantray announced.
Laloo declares support for PM
Our Political Bureau NEW DELHI
Bihar Chief Minister Laloo Prasad yesterday indicated that his support for Prime Minister I K Gujral would continue even if events forced a split in the Janata Dal.
I will not allow even an inch of Gujral to be affected. I have no grievance against him. My people are ready to make any sacrifice for him, Prasad told journalists yesterday. Maintaining his defiant posture, Prasad hinted that if authoritarian ways prevailed in the party, he would be forced to float a regional party. He did not say this in so many words but gave the example of the Congress, whose authoritarian style and manipulative ways gave birth to regional parties. Now the so-called national parties are left with manipulative skills and regional parties with mass support, he said. As for himself he said we was the one who had mass support. Toot jayenge, toot jayenge, par khillona nahin banenge (I can break but would not become a toy for others), he said.
He came on record against Sharad Yadav for the first time after the latter became the only candidate to oppose Laloo Prasad in the party presidents election. Referring to the support to Sharad Yadav by the group owning allegiance to former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda, Prasad said that he has gone crazy on the path suggested by others.
The Bihar Chief Minister saw the Dal battle as a political game which was merely a part of the coming struggle for power at the Centre. For him power will come and go but I will not abandon my struggle.