RJD can join govt only if Laloo quits, says Left

The four Left parties have renewed their demand for Bihar Chief Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav's immediate resignation on moral grounds and resolved to intensify their efforts to force him to quit.

On the eve of the meeting of the United Front standing committee in New Delhi on Wednesday, the leaders of the Communist Party of India, the Communist Party of India-Marxist, the All-India Forward Bloc and the Revolutionary Socialist Party reviewed the political scenario, with particular reference to the crisis in Bihar and the move by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam to pull out of the UF. They decided to take a common stand on the issues at the standing committee meeting.

But the Left parties will vehemently oppose the Rashtriya Janata Dal's induction in the UF unless Laloo Yadav resigns as Bihar chief minister, said CPI general secretary A B Bardhan. The Communists have been adamant that Yadav step down in view of the chargesheet filed against him in the fodder scam by the Central Bureau of Investigation.

Bardhan said the issue was discussed in detail on Wednesday by the CPI national executive which felt a ''grave situation'' had developed in Bihar because of Laloo Yadav's refusal to step down.

Denouncing the "so-called vote of confidence" won by Yadav in the state assembly on Tuesday, Bardhan said the Left parties and other organisations would intensify efforts to force him to step down since they were not ready to make any compromise on the issue of corruption in high places.

Bardhan said Laloo Yadav won the confidence motion with help from the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and the Congress, which had had helped a chargesheeted chief minister to ''remain in power, forgetting all moral values and democratic norms.'' The Congress, which spoke about morality and values in public life stood ''exposed,'' he said.

He was critical of Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral for not getting the Bihar chief minister to resign. The CPI was also concerned that several political, economic and legislative measures spelt out in the common minimum programme appeared to have been put on the ''back burner while contentious issues were diverting the attention of the UF government". Differences had come to the fore and the image of the UF had suffered, he added.

Claiming there was no threat to the UF due to the DMK's threat to pull out from the UF and support it from outside, Bardhan said differences with the DMK would be sorted out at Thursday's meeting of UF leaders.

EARLIER STORY: Left threatens to ditch Gujral