Revolt in Samata

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, MARCH 19. The ``collective decision'' of the Samata Party which led to its three Union Ministers agreeing to withdraw resignations from the Vajpayee Cabinet today, led to fresh trouble with a section of party MPs openly challenging the move.

The decision of the parliamentary wing was announced by Mr. George Fernandes after a meeting at his residence, but soon Mr. Prabhunath Singh led the dissidents who held a meeting later along with five others opposing it.

Mr. Singh said the MPs including Mr. Raghunath Jha, Mr. Manjay Lal, Mr. Brahmanand Mandal, Mr. Mahendra Baitha and Mr. Arun Kumar wrote to Mr. Fernandes conveying their dissent, and denied the move was linked to aspirations for a ministerial berth. The Agriculture Minister, Mr. Nitish Kumar, the Minister of State for Railways, Mr. Digvijay Singh, and the Consumer Affairs Minister, Mr. V. Sreenivasa Prasad, had put in their papers on Thursday to express solidarity with Mr. Fernandes who quit as the Defence Minister following the Tehelka tapes expose.

The three Ministers refused to return to work even after the Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, rejected the resignations, and the National Democratic Alliance at its meeting on Friday urged them not to insist on acceptance.

Though the Ministers said they would not rejoin till the probe ordered into the expose was completed, Mr. Fernandes convinced them to return as the action could be misconstrued.

Mr. Fernandes later told reporters the resignations had struck a jarring note in the NDA, though unintended, and said accusing fingers were pointed at him too for having engineered the move.

On the question of Mr. Prabhunath Singh's charge against officials in the Prime Minister's Office, Mr. Fernandes said those in the Government should not say anything which could trigger a controversy, and appealed to the NDA partners not to raise issues outside the forum.

JD(U) `protest'

In a related development the Janata Dal (United) parliamentary party took ``serious note'' of the fact that the NDA had withdrawn the invitation to its leader, Mr. Ramakrishna Hegde, after issuing it.

The party president, Mr. Sharad Yadav, was authorised to convey the members' feelings to the Prime Minister requesting him look into the matter and ensure that such a situation did not arise in the future.

The party also requested Mr. Hegde to reconsider his decision to snap ties with the NDA. Mr. Hegde had earlier demanded Mr. Fernandes' resignation after the ``expose'' and objected to the former Defence Minister continuing as the NDA Convener.

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