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Friday, Jan 12, 2007
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Fast forward to the past for Fernandes

Gargi Parsai

Decides to support move for revival of Samata Party, which he left back in 2003

NEW MOVES: George Fernandes and Jaya Jaitly share a thought. - FILE PHOTO: PTI

NEW DELHI: In a surprising and significant move, National Democratic Alliance (NDA) convener and Janata Dal (United) Member of Parliament George Fernandes has decided to support a proposal to revive the Samata Party, which he left in 2003. He has been unhappy in the JD (U) ever since he lost the presidential election to Sharad Yadav last April.

Highly placed sources say Mr. Fernandes will not leave his membership of the JD (U) or resign his Muzaffarpur seat in Parliament or quit as NDA convener, although the Samata revival plan has his full backing.

The move comes on the eve of the State Assembly elections in Uttarakhand, Punjab and Manipur, where Mr. Fernandes wants to put up his own candidates. Elections are also due shortly in Uttar Pradesh and Goa. Mr. Fernandes has already announced his support to UP Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav's Samajwadi Party and plans to campaign for him.

With the move for resurrection of the Samata Party, it is unlikely that Mr. Fernandes will go along with the JD (U) in poll tie-ups and canvassing. The Samata Party is not an NDA ally.

Speculation is rife that the Samata Party revival is also a bid to rehabilitate Jaya Jaitly, who was Samata president in 2000. The social worker-politician, who gave up her membership of the party in the wake of the Tehelka scam, attended a preliminary resurgence meeting here in the Capital on January 5. Some disgruntled elements in the JD (U) were also present.

The Samata Party, now headed by former Member of Parliament Brahmanand Mandal, will hold a conference here on January 21 to formalise the revival move. Those likely to attend are Ms. Jaitly, Mr. Mandal, Samata Parliamentary Board chief N.K. Singh, general secretaries Shiv Kumar and Aneel Hegde, Gujarat State JD (U) chief Pravin Singh Jadeja, and Uttarakhand JD (U) presidentAnurag.

Samata's lone member in the Rajya Sabha, Vashisht Narain Singh, did not attend the January 5 meeting and it is not clear whether he will turn up at the conference.

In December 2003, Mr. Fernandes, who was then Samata president, announced his decision to merge the party with the JD (U) then headed by Mr. Yadav. Mr. Fernandes became the new president of the JD (U), while Mr. Yadav became Chairman of its Parliamentary Board. The then Lok Sabha members Brahmanand Mandal and Raghunath Jha, however, challenged this merger on the ground that they were not consulted. They took the issue to the Election Commission and managed to retain the identity of the party along with its symbol "torch". Mr. Jha later joined the Rashtriya Janata Dal and Mr. Mandal became Samata president.

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