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Left Comes Out Against Laloo, Plans Stir For Panchayat Polls

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Left leaders, who till recently were defensive about Yadav, have come out openly against him. There is a need for demarcating ourselves from the Janata Dal and Laloo as we are not satisfied with his style of functioning, explained a CPM leader.

They say that while other defaulter states such as Tamil Nadu and Orissa are planning to hold panchayat elections some time this year, Yadav does not seem to be interested despite repeated observations from the Patna High Court. The DMK government in Tamil Nadu has already announced that panchayat and other local bodies' elections will be held in September. This Left offensive comes close on the heels of growing pressure on Yadav from within his own party, the Janata Dal, to follow the one-man-one-post principle. Yadav is, at present, both the party president and the Chief Minister of Bihar.

 

Although Yadav tried to neutralise such pressure by saying on Sunday that he was an exception to the rule, the matter is likely to come up for discussion at the Dal's national executive meet scheduled to be held on August 30.

Left leaders have also criticised the Yadav government for not implementing land reforms despite repeated demands from them. The Left parties had held a state-wide campaign last year for this. The CPI(ML) had participated in that agitation but is not part of this one. CPI(M) politburo member S Ramachandran Pillai went to the extent of saying that not only was Laloo Prasad not doing anything to implement land reforms, but that he is supporting some of the landlords.

Left leaders have also expressed concern over the existence of private senas in the state and the state government's indifference to the need to counter them.

CPI national secretary D Raja demanded how private armies such as the Ranvir Sena could exist in a democracy. Can you tolerate such senas? They are armed thugs to defend the interests of feudal elements. They need to be banned immediately.

Left leaders are also concerned that Yadav's tenure has been marked by a series of scams. It is matter of serious concern. Administration needs to be thoroughly streamlined and accountability should be established. In most of the cases, it is very hard to find out who are the real culprits. Such things should go, Raja said.

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First Published: Aug 27 1996 | 12:00 AM IST

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