The Hindu : Bid to remove Samata leader in Assembly

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Apr 07, 2003

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Bid to remove Samata leader in Assembly

By Our Staff Correspondent

PATNA April 6. The rift between the Nitish Kumar group and the George Fernandes faction in the Samata Party has widened further with the former seeking a meeting of the party's legislature wing to remove its leader, Uma Shanker Singh, for his alleged proximity with Mr. Fernandes.

The two factions have begun trading charges and counter-charges. Today, Mr. Singh described his own step of removing P. K. Sinha as the party's leader in the Legislative Council as unconstitutional saying he had been kept in the dark about the issuance of a show-cause notice to Mr. Sinha.

Mr. Singh said he would explain to the Council Chairman that no show-cause notice had been issued to Mr. Sinha and hence there was no scope for any disciplinary action against him.

He also denied the adoption of a censure motion against the party chief saying he had rejected it when it was brought to his notice.

Mr. Singh described as reprehensible the motive of a section of the legislators in attacking Mr. Fernandes and Mr. Kumar's tacit silence on the issue.

Mr. Singh also maintained that he had not suspended three legislators from the party as claimed by the Nitish faction and said he would not be party to any illegal activity despite the possibility that he could lose his post.

The Deputy Leader of the legislative wing, Upendra Kushwaha, in a counter move, wrote to the State unit convener, Bashisht Narain Singh, to convene a meeting of the Legislature Party for deciding the leadership issue with the obvious intention of removing Mr. Singh and replacing him with a Nitish loyalist.

The meeting is likely to coincide with the meeting of the State council and the State executive scheduled for April 12 and 13.

Mr. Kushwaha maintained that legislators at a meeting last night had expressed their lack of confidence in Mr. Singh and demanded that he should resign on his own.

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Bid to remove Samata leader in Assembly