Fight it out legally, experts tell Laloo

Tara Shankar Sahay in Delhi

Bihar Chief Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav's flagging spirits were on an upswing on Thursday with legal experts telling him that he could approach the Supreme Court for a stay if the state governor allowed the CBI to prosecute him in the multi-million fodder scam.

A senior Bihar government official, who returned from Patna on Thursday, told Rediff On The NeT that Governor A R Kidwai cancelled most of his appointments on May 14 in order to study the CBI documents containing the charges against Yadav.

According to the official, this rattled the chief minister who approached his legal advisors. They reportedly told him that if the CBI procured the governor's sanction, Yadav should immediately appeal to the Supreme Court for a stay in the matter.

Yadav's legal advisors seem to have based their advice on the fact that the apex court had, in 1995, stayed the sanction for the prosecution of former Tamil Nadu chief minister Jayalalitha Jayaram by the then state governor, Dr Marri Channa Reddy. The charges in question pertained to corruption and Jayalalitha's alleged possession of wealth, disproportionate to her known sources of income. After staying the governor's sanction, a three-judge bench had referred the issue related to the governor's powers to a Constitution bench.

The official, however, pointed out that, despite exuding outward optimism about getting a favourable verdict regarding the stay on Kidwai's likely sanction, Yadav has become desperate. The realisation that the chief minister might have a protracted legal battle on his hands has dismayed and deterred even the staunchest of his supporters in the Bihar unit of the Janata Dal.

Barring a handful of JD legislators, most MLAs, who had professed undying support to Yadav, are apparently having second thoughts. The last three days has witnessed a perceptible decrease in the number of people thronging the chief minister's residence.

JD legislators like Ghulam Sarwar and Ramai Ram, who have spearheaded the 'Oust Laloo' campaign, are planning a signed petition from all senior party leaders to reinforce their demand that the chief minister step down for his alleged role in the scam. Sarwar and Ram recently met former prime minister H D Deve Gowda in Delhi to discuss strategies aimed at Yadav's ouster. Deve Gowda apparently assured them of all possible help.