George purge shakes Samata

Knives were out today in the Samata Party as the faction led by Union Railway Minister Nitish Kumar struck at the loyalists of Defence Minis...

Knives were out today in the Samata Party as the faction led by Union Railway Minister Nitish Kumar struck at the loyalists of Defence Minister and party president George Fernandes in Bihar, expelling five of them from the primary membership of the party and removing the leaders of the state legislature.

While Fernandes supporters stayed away, loyalists of Kumar held meetings of the state executive committee, state council and the legislature party at Patna, where they expelled two MPs, two MLAs and one MLC and announced the removal of Umashanker Singh as the Samata Party leader in the assembly and P K Sinha as the party leader in the legislative council.

The fireworks at Patna, notwithstanding their intensity, were only a manifestation of the current tension between Fernandes and Kumar. Insiders say it is rooted in Fernandes’s new-found proximity to Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee and his efforts to get her back into the Cabinet.

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Given her fondness for the Railways portfolio, which Kumar holds, the latter was obviously feeling wronged. Then there was the basic issue of control of the Bihar unit. While Kumar wanted nothing short of a free hand, Fernandes wanted to accommodate his loyalists too.

The supporters of Kumar, who held a state executive meeting at the MLA Club Hall, unanimously adopted a resolution demanding expulsion of Raghunath Jha and Brahmanand Mandal, MPs, Ganesh Paswan and Bhai Virendra, MLAs and P K Sinha, MLC. The resolution was moved by Shyam Sunder Singh Dheeraj. State convenor Bashishtha Narain Singh, MP, presided over the meeting, which was also attended by Prabhunath Singh, Arun Kumar, Renu Kumari and Manjay Lal, all MPs.

Simultaneously, supporters of Fernandes, including Raghunath Jha and Brahamanand Mandal, holding a workers’meeting at Darbhanga, termed the Nitish faction meetings as ‘‘unauthorised’’. They also vowed to ‘‘take the battle to the logical conclusion’’.

Bashishth Narain Singh said later that the resolution would be sent to the national leadership for prompt action. He also announced the ‘‘replacement” of Uma Shankar Singh by his deputy, Upendra Prasad Kushwaha. Sinha was ‘‘replaced’’ by Magani Lal Mandal. He warned those trying to violate party discipline would be expelled.

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Nitish Kumar pledged his support to any move to curb indiscipline. Denying any prospect of a split in the party, he said: ‘‘The party is working. Two or four people trying to do something does not mean there is a split.’’

On his part, Uma Shankar Singh contended that only the legislature party leader could summon a meeting of MLAs.

While Sinha argued that Bashishth Narain Singh, as the convenor, had the mandate to only oversee the impending organisational elections. Sinha, who had earlier filed a petition before the Election Commission against the dissolution of the executive committee by MPs loyal to Kumar, said he would apprise the commission of the ‘‘illegal’’ actions of the rival faction.