Supreme Court's plans for holding presidential elections in the Janata Dal appeared to have run into trouble yesterday even as the supporters of Bihar chief minister Laloo Prasad Yadav stepped up a campaign against the reported CBI raids on the residences of Yadav and his relatives in the Rs 950 crore fodder scam case.
Information and broadcasting minister Jaipal Reddy, one of the two senior dal leaders appointed by the apex court to conduct the poll before July 3, is reportedly disinclined to undertake the responsibility, according to
party sources.
The other senior Dal leader Prof Madhu Dandavate refused to make any comment on whether or not he had decided to accept the apex court's directive.
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Several of the bihar chief minister's supporters, including two union ministers Kanti Singh and Capt Jainarayan Nishad, who met Prof Dandavate for an hour at his residence declined to reveal details of the discussions.
Earlier in the day, the two Union ministers joined three other MPs and known supporters of Laloo alleging that former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda was behind the CBI raids which were meant to malign and humiliate the chief minister in the eyes of the public.
The raids are politically motivated and form part of a conspiracy using the CBI to malign the image of the chief minister and humiliate him in the eyes of the people, the MPs charged at a joint press conference.
The five JD MPs