The Hindu : Bihar Samata chief resigns

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Saturday, Jan 11, 2003

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Bihar Samata chief resigns

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI JAN.10. The crisis in the Samata Party, which appeared headed for a split, ended today with the pro-Nitish faction having its way. The dissidents have secured the resignation of the Bihar unit chief and installed their loyalist as its convener till the end of organisation elections.

The decision was taken after a prolonged meeting of the Samata Parliamentary Party, convened here today by the party chief and the Defence Minister, George Fernandes.

The Bihar Samata Party chief, Raghunath Jha, who was the target of the dissidents' ire, submitted his resignation and the party decided to appoint senior leader Bashista Narain Singh as convener to oversee the membership campaign and the election process.

Mr. Jha was considered close to Mr. Fernandes and the argument that he be allowed to retain the post till March when his tenure ended was not agreeable to the dissidents.

Mr. Jha had put in his papers last night after a meeting with Mr. Fernandes. He was among the two of the 14 party MPs who did not attend today's meeting. While he left for a two-nation tour as part of a parliamentary delegation, the other MP, Beatrix D'Souza, could not make it from Chennai at such short notice, said the party spokesman, Shambu Shrivastwa.

The dissidents, who were planning a formal parting of ways on January 19 through a State executive committee meeting in Patna, have called off the meeting even as the spokesman insisted that the meeting was "unconstitutional".

Mr. Shrivastwa announced that the party had decided to extend the last date for membership registration till February 15. As a result, the poll scheduled had been revised, with the States to complete the process by April and, at the national level, by the end of May.

Six MPs, Arun Kumar, Renu Kumari, Prabhunath Singh, Manjay Lal, Rajiv Ranjan `Lallan' Singh and Basishta Narain Singh, had written a letter last month to Mr. Fernandes demanding the removal of Mr. Jha. They threatened to resign from the party if their demand was not acceded to and, later, refused to renew their party membership.

The crisis took a turn for the worse when the pro-Nitish faction in Bihar, led by Satish Kumar, walked out of a NDA meeting on January 2, chaired by Mr. Fernandes. They said the party had not cared to invite the Railway Minister, Nitish Kumar, for the meeting.

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Bihar Samata chief resigns