NEW DELHI, 22 May 2005 — Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) national Secretary General and former union minister Nagmani yesterday resigned from his post in protest against Ram Vilas Paswan’s intransigence over backing a government led by Janata Dal (U) in Bihar.
I have sent my resignation to Paswan for acceptance, Nagmani said. Charging the party leadership with “betraying the people of Bihar by not honoring the anti-RJD mandate,” he said the political parties had rejected all the formula suggested by the LJP president for installation of a popular government in Bihar.
Stating that he had time and again suggested to Paswan to back a government led by JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar, Nagmani said Paswan’s intransigence over the issue had queered the pitch for installation of a government.
“The people of Bihar gave the key of government formation to Paswan with full faith that he will work for an anti-RJD government but Paswan has betrayed them,” Nagmani said.
Nagmani’s decision to quit comes close on the heels of reports of a sizable number of LJP’s 29 MLAs staying at a hotel in Jamshedpur for the purpose of forming a government.
Nagmani, who was in charge of LJP’s affairs in Bihar, claimed to have support of nearly 23 party MLAs. He said except for the 4 to 5 LJP MLAs, who happen to be close to Paswan family, others are with me.
Munna Shukla, who is working hard to garner maximum support for Nagmani, said that majority of party MLAs are with Nagmani and they are inclined to help form a JD-U led popular government in Bihar.
Meanwhile, sources close to Nagmani said the new group will merge into JD-U to avoid the anti-defection law.
Sources said that they are ready to accept JD-U leader Nitish Kumar as chief minister. The sources have also not ruled out the possibility of either Nagmani or his MLA wife Suchitra becoming the deputy chief minister of state.
Sources said many LJP legislators were likely to desert Paswan and help the JD(U) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) form a government in Bihar, which was placed under the president’s rule on March 7.
They said there were 20 disgruntled legislators in the LJP who had fought the February elections vowing to end the 15-year RJD rule. They had been getting restless over the past two months.
Of late, Paswan was being seen as softening toward Lalu Prasad, his arch-rival.
Earlier this month, he offered to back a coalition in Bihar that included the RJD but was “led by the Congress and had a Muslim chief minister”.
Resentment has been high among the 16 LJP legislators from the upper castes, such as the Bhumihars and Rajputs.
A senior LJP leader said that more party leaders could resign in the coming days to put pressure on Paswan to join hands with the JD(U).
The threat of an LJP split followed the transfer of Siwan district magistrate C.K. Anil and his Gopalganj counterpart K.K. Pathak. The transfers were being seen by most LJP legislators as protecting the interests of the RJD.
Anil and Pathak had been taking steps to rein in RJD MPs M. Shahabuddin and Sadhu Yadav, Lalu Prasad’s brother-in-law, respectively.
The appointment of former bureaucrat Arun Pathak as adviser to Governor Buta Singh too had irked LJP legislators as Pathak is widely seen as a Lalu Prasad loyalist.
Following these developments, even Paswan — who had said that president’s rule was good for Bihar — had to admit that Lalu Prasad and former Chief Minister Rabri Devi seemed to be running the state by proxy.
