The NDA has revived its ‘‘tainted ministers’’ campaign but going by precedent, Union Railway Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav may be able to brazen it out unless an arrest warrant is issued against him.For, he resigned as Bihar Chief Minister in July 1997 when the CBI filed a chargesheet in a fodder scam case and the court issued arrest warrants on that basis. The irony: at that time, Laloo didn’t wait for charges to be framed.Since then, he has twice had charges framed against him—one in the fodder scam and one for disproportionate assets. And has had three spells of detention jail—twice for the fodder scam and once for the disproportionate assets case.What makes today’s development stand out is that this is the first time since he became Railway Minister that a court has framed charges against him, again in the fodder scam.And yet his refusal to resign from office—a decision backed by the Law Minister himself—suggests that Laloo may be drawing comfort from the fact that his latest setback does not really alter his legal status.Though the number of cases has increased from two to three, Yadav remains what he was at time of his induction into the Manmohan Singh Government: an accused facing trial.Incidentally, the only UPA Minister to have resigned is Shibu Soren who had to step down as Coal Minister last July following an arrest warrant issued by another Jharkhand court in a 30-year-old murder case.
