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Bihar : Lok Janshakti Party faces split |
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Union Steel Minister Rambilas Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) is in a crisis in Bihar with a section of its newly elected MLAs raising the banner of revolt against the party chief. The problem surfaced on Saturday, May 21, with party secretary general Nagmani resigning his post and also party membership to protest against what he called Paswan’s inflexible attitude to Government formation in the State. He said the newly elected MLAs were disillusioned with Paswan’s failure to install a non-Rashtriya Janata Dal Government. A former Minister in the NDA Government Nagmani announced his resignation in the midst of reports that over a dozen LJP MLAs had been taken away to Jamshedpur and Hazaribagh, in Jharkhand, where the BJP is in power. Nagmani faction sources claimed that three other MLAs of the party, now behind bars, are also in favour of a Government coming up in the state under Janata Dal United leader Nitish Kumar.
NDA leaders say that they are hopeful of at least 20 of the 29 LJP MLAs coming under one banner to formalise a split in the party without invoking provisions of the anti-defection Law. If this happens, the Janata Dal United led NDA in the state would be in a position to stake claim to form a Government. In the 243-member Bihar Assembly, the NDA has 92 MLAs and the assured support of 17 Independents. If 20 MLAs of the breakaway LJP join them, the outfit would enjoy a majority in the Assembly.
These developments in the LJP come hardly a fortnight after Paswan failed to find any takers for his formula of a Congress Chief Minister belonging to the Muslim community, getting the support of the RJD as well as the LJP.
Transfer of District Magistrates : Lalu’s hidden hand ?
Both the Opposition BJP and Steel Minister Paswan have criticised the Bihar Governor’s action in shifting the District Magistrates of Siwan and Gopalganj. These two officers had been hand-picked by the Election Commission to go after political mafia in two of Bihar’s most troubled districts ahead of the Assembly elections in February.
Orders for the transfer of Siwan DM C.K. Anil and Gopalganj DM K.K. Pathak, to the Patna Secretariat have raised eyebrows because both went after RJD MPs Mohammed Shahabuddin and Sadhu Yadav - one a protege of Lalu Yadav and the other his brother-in-law, in the run up to the elections, even ordering them out of the districts to ensure free and fair polls.
Although their actions were not backed by officials and leaders in Patna, there was wide public appreciation of the fact that the two DMs had stood up to the RJD strong men. In a state where voters are regularly terrorised during elections, the crackdown in Siwan and Gopalganj was a welcome change.
In another move, which has the stamp of Lalu Yadav written all over, the Centre has appointed Arun Pathak, known to be close to the Railway Minister, as Advisor to the Governor. Arun Pathak had served the state as its Chief Secretary during the tenures of Bhagwat Jha Azad and Lalu Prasad Yadav as Chief Ministers from 1988 to 1991. He is well known as a Lalu loyalist. However, Lalu Prasad Yadav denied in New Delhi that he had a hand in Pathak’s appointment as Advisor and the transfers of the District Magistrates of Siwan and Gopalganj. But BJP MP Sushil Kumar Modi described the developments as marking the return of Lalu Raj and the end of Buta Singh Raj.
The LJP has said that the transfers of the District Magistrates have sent a wrong message to the masses as these two officials had performed very well as District Magistrates.
Two smaller Left parties demand Lalu Yadav’s ouster
In a related development, two smaller Left parties, the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) and the Forward Bloc (FB) have demanded that Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav should quit the Union Cabinet as fresh fodder scam charges have been filed against him in the Ranchi CBI court. But the two big Left parties, the CPI(M) and the CPI, have not supported the demand. The CPIM is against the demand while the CPI is keeping its options open as of now.
The CBI special court in Ranchi rejected Lalu Prasad Yadav’s discharge petition last week on May 17 and framed charges against him in yet another fodder scam case. This is the second time in less than a month that a charge sheet has been framed against the RJD president. The matter involves the fraudulent withdrawal of over rupees three crores from a Government treasury.
Another former Bihar Chief Minister Jagannath Mishra has also been charge-sheeted in the case.
Meanwhile, the Patna High Court has constituted a three-member Bench for day-to-day hearing of RJD president Lalu Prasad Yadav and former Chief Minister Rabri Devi’s petition challenging the Governor’s sanction for their prosecution in the disproportionate assets case. The Bench comprises Justices Ram Nandan Prasad, Barin Ghosh and M.L. Visa. The Bench has started day to day hearing as per the Supreme Court directive in the case.
The BJP has charged Lalu Prasad Yadav with involvement in another scam, relating to the purchase and supply of blankets worth Rs. 40 crores for below poverty line (BPL) families in Bihar during the winter of 2002-03. BJP national vice president Sushil Kumar Modi alleged that the State Government refused to hold an inquiry into the scam despite the recommendation of the Managing Director of the Bihar State Financial Corporation.
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