Bihar Chief Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav yesterday cautioned the Centre against capitulating before the forces inimical to social justice and secularism in the fodder scam case and warned we will be forced to take unpleasant decisions if it fails to do so.
The warning came as Bihar Governor A R Kidwai went to Delhi amidst speculations in political circles that he would consult the central government on according sanction to CBI for prosecuting Yadav in the Rs 950-crore fodder scam case.
Charging BJP with hatching a conspiracy in league with the CBI to dislodge his government, Yadav said as long as as the Gujral government upholds the principles of social justice and secularism, which are articles of faith for us, we will frustrate all attempts to dislodge it. But we will be forced to take unpleasant decisions if it fails to do so.
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Addressing a meeting of Janata Dal members, legislators and members of Parliament from the state, Yadav turned down the demand for his resignation on moral grounds saying the Constitution did not provide resignation on such grounds.
I will continue as Chief Minister as long as the Janata Dal legislature party has confidence in me, he said and charged the CBI with falsely implicating him in the fodder scam and accused its director Joginder Singh of playing into the hands of the BJP.
The meeting adopted a resolution urging the Centre to constitute a commission, headed by a sitting Supreme Court judge, to probe the nexus between the CBI and BJP, which, it alleged, was responsible for falsely implicating Yadav in the scam.
Extending an olive branch to dissident MLAs demanding his ouster in the wake of CBIs move, Yadav said, I urge my freinds not to be misled. There is still time for return.
Another resolution adopted by the meeting said the opposition demand for the chief ministers resignation was indicative of political dishonesty as in parliamentary democracy only the MLAs of the party commanding a majority in the lower house alone had the right to replace its leader.
A number of JD MPs, including Ramkripal Yadav, Nagmani, Sukhdeo Paswan, Anil Kumar, Giridhari Yadav, Ajit Kumar Mehta, Ali Ashraf Fatmi and Bhagwati Devi attended the meeting.
Bihar Governor in capital
Our Political Bureau NEW DELHI
Bihar Governor A R Kidwai arrived here yesterday following a furore in the Lok Sabha on Monday over the law and order situation in the state. The issue has become volatile since CBI director Joginder Singhs indication that Bihar Chief Minister and Janata Dal president Laloo Prasad Yadav would soon be charged in the Rs 950 crore animal husbandry scam.
Kidwai, who is slated to meet Union home minister Indrajit Gupta and Prime Minister I K Gujral today, said that the CBI had not written to him yet on Laloos prosecution.
Home minister Inderjit Gupta had said in Parliament on Monday that there was no breakdown in law and order, much less of the constitutional machinery in the state. He had also said that he had not received any report from the Governor.
Kidwai is in the limelight, particularly since Laloo Prasad was reported to have urged him not to give permission to the CBI to charge him in the scam. The CBI has to seek the Governors permission before charging Yadav.
Interestingly, while a debate has already started in political circles over whether pressure on the Governor by Yadav through mass movements amount to constitutional breakdown, a Janata Dal MP from Karnataka, P Kodanda Ramaiah, yesterday declared that no pressure should be put on the competent authority on the issue of granting permission.
Ramaiah, who was an IPS officer in Karnataka, said the Governor was the appointing authority for a Chief Minister. He said Laloo Prasads meeting with the Governor on Sunday was not to plead for withholding permission to charge him, but to brief him on political developments in the state. He criticised the Press for trying Laloo Yadav even before he was charged.
Ramaiah said the CBI should be given complete autonomy. Instead of one person appointing the CBI director, there should be a panel to appoint the CBI director.