The Hindu : Rebels write to Speaker

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Dec 21, 2003

National

National

Rebels write to Speaker

By Our Special Correspondent

PATNA Dec. 20: Three Samata Party MLAs, opposed to the merger with the Janata Dal (U), today wrote to the Bihar Assembly Speaker seeking recognition as members of the existing entity.

The three Samata MLAs — Uma Shanker Singh, Bhai Virendra and Ganesh Paswan — in their letter to the Speaker underlined their opposition to the merger and expressed their desire to maintain the party's identity.

They are critical of the action of the Defence Minister and JD (U) president, George Fernandes, and the Railway Minister, Nitish Kumar, of merging a bigger party into a smaller party which had no relevance at the State or the national level.

They charged that the objective of these two leaders was to forge unity before the Lok Sabha elections to win their respective seats and part company later throwing away the advantage in the Assembly elections.

The former leader of the JD (U) parliamentary party, Devendra Prasad Yadav, who formed the JD (U-Democratic) on Friday, held a meeting with his supporters and claimed that the workers of the JD (U) were behind him and not with the Fernandes-led outfit.

The Samata Party MP, Raghunath Jha, told The Hindu that talks were on with both Mr. Yadav and the Lok Janshakti Party leader, Mr. Paswan, to discuss their joint line of action. He said that a meeting would be held in January to take a final decision and give shape to their political strategy in the State and elsewhere.

If the Speaker grants recognition to the three Samata MLAs, it would avert a clash between the BJP and the JD (U) as to which is the main Opposition party. With the exit of the three MLAs, the JD (U) now has 35 MLAs, one less than that of the BJP, thereby, allowing the post of the Leader of Opposition to remain with S.K. Modi himself.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

National