Ranchi, Oct. 24: Friends are fast turning foes. Chief minister Madhu Koda is vociferous and so are his allies.

A day after Koda threatened to expose the “real faces” of his friends in the government, the UPA alliance partners lashed out at him. Congress legislature party leader Manoj Yadav said Koda did not oblige them by heeding to their “pairvees”.

“The public representatives are bound to make recommendations in a democracy. It depends on the chief minister’s discretion to promote honest and competent officers, and punish the corrupt and shirkers,” he said.

Yadav said the ministers are out of control of the chief minister, making a mockery of the principle of collective responsibility. “They have no accountability. They are simply minting money,” he told The Telegraph.

“And Koda cannot abdicate his responsibility for his failure to discipline the ministers. So, we are bound to criticise the government. We have extended our support, not surrendered to him (samarthan kiye hain, samarpan nahi). Our aim is that the government delivers in favour of the general public,” he added.

A few days ago, Ajay Maken, Union minister of state for urban development and in charge of Jharkhand Congress had said that the party did not want to continue Koda in the saddle any longer.

The RJD was equally furious. “We will give him a befitting reply after our Chetawani rally in Patna on October 28. He is not serving the state, he is serving himself,” said RJD president Gautam Sagar Rana.

“Why should he accept wrong recommendations? The heaven will not fall if he reveals the names of politicians making pairvees to him. We won’t hesitate to expose him. But we won’t do so. He should show statesmanship instead of indulging in petty talks.”

The RJD leader said they are supporting Koda to keep the BJP out.

“We are not here to make him a whipping boy. We have seen chief ministers of other states who are impatient to improve the lot of the millions. We do not see any such quality in him!” he added.

Significantly, JMM chief Shibu Soren, eyeing a berth in the Union cabinet in the next reshuffle, was cautious in his reaction.

“Koda should not be singled out for non-performance of the government. My party happens to be the largest partner in the government,” he said. He added that transfer-posting was a routine business, and, “we do make recommendations. But the final decision remains in the realm of the chief minister’s authority.” The JMM supremo predicted that elections are round the corner.

“So, everybody should pull up together to perform instead of indulging in rhetoric,” he said. Yesterday Koda had said that making him the whipping boy was a political compulsion of his alliance partners owing to impending elections.