Takeshita Foes Unite to Seek His Removal

The leaders of Japan’s four major opposition parties have formed a united front to try to drive scandal-plagued Prime Minister Noboru Takeshita from office, a change that analysts now say is an increasingly likely possibility.

The NHK broadcasting network reported Friday that leaders of the Socialist Party, the Clean Government Party, the Democratic Socialist Party and the Social Democratic Federation had decided to press for Takeshita’s ouster and a general election.

Political analysts said, after a week of damaging revelations, that it looked increasingly likely that Takeshita would to be forced to resign.

Major Japanese newspapers reported Friday that the prime minister had received a further $190,000 from the Recruit Co., the enterprise at the heart of the scandal.

Earlier in the week, an aide admitted that Takeshita’s political support group had received $226,000 in May, 1987, from the publishing and telecommunications group accused of trying to buy business and political favors. This was in addition to $150,000 that Takeshita had already admitted receiving as a donation from Recruit.

Analysts say a large group within the ruling Liberal Democratic Party now see dumping Takeshita as the only way the party can avoid critical damage in future elections.

Three Cabinet ministers have been forced to resign in connection with the Recruit scandal, and 13 businessmen and senior civil servants have been arrested.