Laloo may garner enough support to prove majority

PATNA, July 5: Even as Bihar Chief Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav was thundering on the lawns of Bihar Bhavan in New Delhi about the pan-India...

PATNA, July 5: Even as Bihar Chief Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav was thundering on the lawns of Bihar Bhavan in New Delhi about the pan-Indian character of his Rashtriya Janata Dal, his detractors here were busy toting up the number of MLAs who could be counted upon to desert him.

While the dissidents claim there are only 30 MLAs squarely behind Laloo, the Laloo camp maintains that only 25 MLAs, out of the 167, have broken away.

The Bihar Assembly reopens on July 14 and Laloo is bound to face a confidence vote within

the first week of the session.

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The Janata Dal has 167 MLAs in a House of 324 and even if allowance be made for 30 dissidents, the Chief Minister should be able to garner support from other quarters to keep his head above water in Patna.

The Congress, which has 29 MLAs, is naturally playing its cards close to its chest (“It is an internal matter of the Janata Dal,” a spokesman said) but sources here said today that Congress president Sitaram Kesri has `advised’ the state unit to support Laloo if the dissidents’ push comes to a shove.

Already words here are around that as many as 15 Congress MLAs are not averse to switching sides to prop up Laloo.

Laloo can also count upon the support of a section of the 26 MLA-strong CPI. The JMM factions led by Soren and Mardi between them have 18 MLAs and they may not be averse to throwing their weight behind Laloo.

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At the Rashtriya Janata Party convention in Delhi today, a pro-Laloo MLA said that the Chief Minister had the commitment of 140 Bihar MLAs, apart from 18 MPs. But in Patna, the rival camp insists that it has the support of “at least 100 MLAs” and that Laloo’s days are numbered.

Manganilal Mandal, Ram Jeevan Singh and Ramai Ram, three of the ministers who Laloo sacked last month, and legislators Gautam Sagar Rana and Ram Nath Thakur left for Delhi “with 70 signatures against Laloo” to meet Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral.

They said that the convention in the Capital was a flop and it was not indicative of the Chief Minister’s “immense unpopularity”. They hope to make up the numbers necessary to bring down the Laloo government with support from the CPM (six MLAs), Samata Party (8), Independents (14) and “friendly MLAs in other parties.”

All this, of course, depends on the authenticity of their claim that Laloo has the backing of just 30 JD MLAs.