The governor's been misled, charges Laloo
High drama continued in the Bihar capital on Wednesday as Central
Bureau of Investigation Special Director D R Karthikeyan arrived
to help give final shape to the chargesheet against Chief Minister
Laloo Prasad Yadav, who for his part requested state Governor
A R Kidwai to enquire into the "fraud perpetrated by the
CBI in acquiring the governor's sanction for prosecution",
and the state administration sounded a red alert in anticipation
of clashes between supporters and opponents of the beleagured
chief minister.
CBI sources said the chargesheet will be fine-tuned by senior
officials including Karthikeyen and will be filed in the special
court within the next couple of days under case number 20 (A/96),
naming Laloo Prasad Yadav and others in the Rs 95 million fodder
scam.
Sources also indicated that there would be a series of raids at
residences of those suspected of involvement and/or complicity
in the scam.
The CBI team led by Joint Director (East) U N Biswas has been
holding a series of discussions with Karthikeyan in connection
with the chargesheet that names Laloo Prasad Yadav and 55 others
as accused in the fodder scam. Twelve chargesheets have thus far
been filed in the courts and three legislators, three senior IAS
officers, one former director of the animal husbandry department
and a host of other department officials and suppliers are in
jail.
The incarcerated legislators are Dhruv Bhagat of the BJP, Jagdish
Sharma of the Congress and R K Rana of the Janata Dal, while the
three IAS officers are K Arumugam, Mahesh Prasad and Beck Julius.
The top political leaders who figure in the list of accused include,
besides Laloo Prasad Yadav, federal Minister Chandradev Prasad
Verma, State Animal Husbandry Minister Bhola Ram Toofani, State
Labour Minister Viya Sagar, and former state chief minister Dr
Jagannath Mishra.
On Wednesday morning, Income Tax Commissioner A C Chowdhary was
produced before the designated court in connection with the same
case and has been remanded to CBI custody by special judge S K
Lal.
Laloo Prasad Yadav, meanwhile, had a meeting with Governor Kidwai
and subsequently told the media, "I will retire from public
life if it can be proved that the attorney-general has given his
assent for prosecution." The Janata Dal president claimed
to be in possession of definite information that the governor
had been misled by the CBI in this regard. However, Yadav added
in the next breath that he would not resign his chief ministership
at any cost and that he would fight the "political conspirators"
to the very end.
Ten JD MPs, including federal ministers Kanti Singh and Jai Narayan
Nishad, held a meeting in the capital and later expressed their
"unflinching support and full faith in the leadership of
Laloo Yadav". Analysts indicate that all eyes are now turned
to Thursday's meeting of Janata Dal legislators in the state.
Meanwhile, the state administration has alerted all senior police
officials throughout the state of the possibility of violence
between groups supportive of, and opposed to, embattled chief
minister Laloo Yadav. JD activists on Wednesday paralysed road
traffic in several areas in the state capital and the apprehension
of imminent violence was given a further fillip when CPM National
Secretary Vinod Mishra announced that if Laloo Prasad Yadav did
not resign office within the next 10 days his party would "paralyse
the government machinery in the state".
Senior police officials indicate that the law and order machinery
has consequently been put on a state of full alert.
It is leart, meanwhile, that Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral
spoke to Laloo Prasad Yadav over the telephone this afternoon
before his departure for an official three-day tour of Rajasthan.
The details of the discussion between the PM and the JD president
are not known yet.
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