Gujral is in my kitty, claims Laloo Yadav

BHUBANESWAR, Jan 13: President of the Rashtriya Janata Dal Laloo Prasad Yadav has claimed that Prime Minister I K Gujral is already in his p...

BHUBANESWAR, Jan 13: President of the Rashtriya Janata Dal Laloo Prasad Yadav has claimed that Prime Minister I K Gujral is already in his party and that there is a secret pact between both the leaders. “Let Gujral contradict me if I am wrong,” the former Bihar Chief Minister told a news conference here yesterday after he addressed a rally organised by the Orissa unit of RJD.

He adores the Prime Minister because “Gujral is a nice man” who is being “tortured in the Janata Dal for his virtues.” Yadav said he had offered his support to the Prime minister if the latter agreed to contest anywhere from Bihar on Janata Dal ticket. “The offer was only for him and none else in Janata Dal,” he added. But Gujral could not accept his invitation as he had already committed to contesting from Jalandhar.

He asserted that those who are “not crooks and are feeling uncomfortable in the Janata Dal” will join RJD by March 15. “Wait and see what is happening after the elections,” he said. Yadav, however, predicteda hung parliament once again this time with no party securing majority. Another coalition government will have to be formed and one has wait to see what kind of combination emerges after the elections, he bantered. He wondered how the United Front would fight the communal forces without the help of the Congress. If Congress is such a bad party, why did the UF government depend on its support for 18 months, he asked.

The RJD leader held that it was a personal loss’ for former Karnataka chief minister R K Hegde to go for an alliance of his party Lokshakti with BJP.

Stating that the aim of the RJD is to bring the bank benchers of the society to the mainstream, he said when it would come to power it would go for constitutional amendment to provide reservation for the upper caste poor.

“We believe in live and let live,” Yadav said adding, otherwise there would be anarchy.