The Hindu : National : Laloo Yadav leads the Bihar brigade

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Sunday, May 23, 2004

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National

Laloo Yadav leads the Bihar brigade

By K. Balchand

The RJD chief, Laloo Prasad Yadav, and his wife and Bihar Chief Minister, Rabri Devi, arrive for the swearing-in ceremony at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi on Saturday. — PTI

PATNA, MAY 22. The major highlight of today's Cabinet formation at the Centre from Bihar's standpoint has been the political rehabilitation of the former Chief Minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal leader, Laloo Prasad Yadav, who has assumed a political office after being in hibernation for over seven years.

Mr. Yadav was forced to resign as Chief Minister of Bihar in July 1997 and since then has not held any official post in the wake of the fodder scam cases.

He faces six cases covering the conspiracy angle of the fodder scam, besides the disproportionate assets case, which is in the final stages and the arguments being presented by the CBI will be followed by the defence counsel.

Mr. Yadav leads the ``Bihar brigade,'' cornering 11 slots in the Union Council of Ministers. Though numerically the RJD-Congress and the Lok Janshakti Party have raked in the same number of Ministers as there were in the National Democratic Alliance Government, the number of Cabinet Ministers are far less this time round.

There were six Cabinet Ministers in the NDA Government while this time Bihar's share is only four. Besides, Mr. Yadav, the other three are Ram Vilas Paswan, Raghuvansh Prasad Singh and Meira Kumar.

Significantly, the former Union Minister of State, Md. Taslimuddin, finds a berth once again in the same capacity. He was forced to resign from the Deve Gowda Government under pressure from the Opposition benches facing as he did almost nine criminal cases. In that sense, he too stands to be resuscitated at the Central level though in Bihar he happened to be a Minister till his elevation at the Central level.

Kishanganj benefits once again as he had defeated Shahnwaz Hussain, a Cabinet Minister in the erstwhile NDA Government.

The other RJD MP, who has found a berth is Jai Prakash Narain Yadav, who quit at the State level following a vigilance case. Apart from Mr. Paswan, the other Dalit to make it as a Cabinet Minister is Ms. Meira Kumar, daughter of the former Deputy Prime Minister, the late Jagjivan Ram. The three members of minorities elected from the State are Ministers of State, including Mr. Taslimuddin. The new faces are M.A.A. Fatmi (RJD) and Shakeel Ahmed (Congress).

The most surprising exclusion has been the former Union Minister, Devendra Prasad Yadav, who had joined the RJD only recently after quitting the Janata Dal (United).

As for Jharkhand, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha chief, Shibu Soren, too has been rehabilitated after being on the sidelines following the JMM bribery case. He still figures in a murder case.

It is a comeback for Subodh Kant Sahay, who was the Union Minister of State for Home in the Chandra Shekhar Government.

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