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Thursday, Feb 18, 2010
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Paswan demands ouster of Nitish

K. Balchand

NEW DELHI: The former Union Minister and LJP president, Ram Vilas Paswan, on Wednesday demanded the ouster of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and imposition of President’s Rule charging that the latter betrayed the people on all fronts.

Mr. Paswan told journalists that he would hold a rally on March 18 in Patna, coinciding with the day Jayaprakash Narain issued a call for Sampoorna Kranti, to protest against the “misrule” of the Chief Minister and force his resignation or dismissal and imposition of President’s Rule.

The LJP chief said the latest incident of police firing on students in which two were killed, only underscored the barbaric face of the JD (U)-led NDA government in Bihar in snuffing out democratic rights of the people.

“Whoever raises a voice of protest, be it students or teachers, are just given a taste of police brutality.”

“A farce”

He maintained that the programme “CM in Janata Darbar” was nothing but a farce to blackmail someone by ordering a probe into an allegedly false case, while genuine cases are simply dumped.

He pointed out petitions of the innocuous people were discarded in gunny bags as had come to light recently.

Mr. Kumar’s own legislators and Ministers are coming out against him, Mr. Paswan pointed out stressing that the Excise Minister threatened to blow the lid off a Rs. 500 crore scam of his department.

“The Chief Minister promised that the facts will be made public in two days but that did not happen and he gave it to the commission to enquire the matter despite the fact that he was allegedly involved in it.”

He charged that the countdown against Mr. Kumar had started with two of his party legislators demanding his removal and the latter’s bosom friend Rajiv Ranjan alias Lallan Kumar, MP, resigning as the State unit chief of the JD(U) and revolting against his allegedly dictatorial attitude by mustering almost two-thirds majority in the parliamentary party.

Mr. Paswan, however, ruled out any possibility of his party getting in touch with the rebel JD (U) leaders saying that they were quite capable of charting their course of action after having jolted the boat.

As regards the possibility of a tie-up with the Congress, Mr. Paswan said his alliance with RJD chief Lalu Prasad was rock solid and it was for the Congress to decide on how it intends to contest the Assembly election later this year.

He maintained that Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi had paid a visit to the State and got a first hand feel about the Congress party’s standing and his workers only displayed their disunity and the kind of inter-personal clashes that plagued it.

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