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Quit now instead of seeking trust vote, Laloo tells Vajpayee

Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Laloo Prasad Yadav today told Prime Minister A B Vajpayee to go to the President and tender his resignation instead of waiting for the results of the confidence vote.

Participating in the debate on the motion of confidence, he said the ruling coalition should not worry about an alternative government and that the Opposition would take a decision on that in a minute and communicate it to the President.

In this case, the President is the authority and not Vajpayee or Home Minister L K Advani, he said.

Yadav told the prime minister he had lost the majority and he should not cling on using technicalities.

"You are falling on your own, and why do you blame the Congress and other parties?" he asked. He charged the government with destroying the economy and spreading communalism. The OOpposition is ready to fight communal forces by shedding every drop of blood, he said, to the thumping of desks.

The treasury benches frequently interrupted Yadav, but, encouraged by the Opposition, he made his points with the help of anecdotes and jokes.

He had digs at Advani, George Fernandes, Yashwant Sinha and Nitish Kumar when he narrated incidents from their past.

He said that though Jawaharlal Nehru once had hoped that Vajpayee would become prime minister, after assuming office, Vajpayee had changed the name of the Jawahar Rozgar Yojana and the Indira Awas Yojana, Yadav said, claiming Vajpayee wanted to rewrite history with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh's ideology.

He said the prime minister insulted the people of Bihar by laying the foundation of projects which could not be taken up. These were done keeping the coming elections in mind, he said. The prime minister also ignored the state chief minister during these functions, he said.

Yadav said the Vajpayee government was corrupt and alleged that a non-resident Indian was camping in Delhi with Rs 900 million, the funds being solely for indulging in horsetrading to save the Vajpayee government.

He told the home minister not to worry about what the Opposition was to do. A party which could not even keep its home together had "no right to continue its misrule", he said.

UNI

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