Factions adamant, Samata may split

The crisis within the Samata Party showed no signs of letup with both the factions, led by Nitish Kumar and George Fernandes respectively, r...

The crisis within the Samata Party showed no signs of letup with both the factions, led by Nitish Kumar and George Fernandes respectively, refusing to back out.

Sources within the party said in all possibility the party is heading for a split with Fernandes ready to miss the state executive committee meeting being organised in Patna on January 19 by party national general secretary Satish Kumar. His faction has been calling the meeting ‘‘unconstitutional’’.

State leaders, like party vice-president Shyam Sunder Dheeraj, said there was no question of a compromise. ‘‘We respect Fernandes as the national party president but Nitish Kumar is the leader of the party and everyone should accept it,’’ he said and added that Bihar’s affairs should be handled by Kumar only without any interference from others.

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He was referring to the NDA meeting that was held on January 3 which triggered off the infighting. ‘‘People who didn’t invite Kumar to the meeting started this. Let them compromise,’’ he said.

The ‘‘other side’’ also stuck to its stand today. Party MLC P.K. Sinha said disciplinary action should be taken against Dheeraj and Satish Kumar for criticising Fernandes. He said nothing would be resolved until the January 19 meeting is cancelled. Both Fernandes and state president Ragunath Jha will be abroad when the meeting takes place on January 19.

Sources said the fight has been brewing since the Gujarat elections with both the leaders disagreeing over the party’s role in the elections.