NEW DELHI, May 10: Prime Minister I K Gujral held intense parleys with senior UF leaders till late in the evening on how to tackle an unyielding Laloo Prasad Yadav now that the CBI has formally approached the Bihar governor for sanctioning the prosecution of the state chief minister and some of his cabinet colleagues in the fodder scam.

The realisation that the nemesis was drawing close was lit large on the face of UF leaders, even though the UF steering committee preferred discretion to valour in a desperate bid to buy time. Since union minister CP Verma is also a co-accused of Laloo in the fodder scame and the latter had threatened that all the union ministers from Bihar would quit en masse if Verma was dismissed, any precipitate decision on the thorny issue could endanger the UF government at the Centre also.

Laloo, who had announced his decision to stay put in Patna earlier, was not present at the meeting. Prime Minister Gujral, the Chief Ministers of Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal and Assam and all senior UF leaders were present at the meeting which was chaired by former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda.

The much awaited steering committee meeting this evening was a tense but businesslike affair lasting 90-minutes.Briefing newspersons at the end of the meeting Front spokesperson S Jaipal Reddy claimed ``no reference whatsoever was made about the fodder scam or the absence of Yadav during the meeting.''

The agreement to avoid discussion on the political fallout of the the CBI move in the fodder scam had been reached before the conclave started. The UF constituents, however, failed to iron out their differences on other vital issues before the steering committee either.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.