A day after Parliament okayed a Bill to make defection almost impossible, the Janata-Samata brigade was twisting and turning, its leaders at a loss for words and its followers confused. With Presidential assent still awaited, two MPs from the JD (U) parted ways with the rest before party’s merger with Samata. They waved a letter from the Lok Sabha Speaker, recognising their new party which they said would be called the JD (U) Democratic.In effect, they reduced from 18 to 16 the Lok Sabha strength of the combined JD (U). The story didn’t end there. Around the time the merger was being announced, Brahmanand Mandal, a Samata dissident, said he and Raghunath Jha were ‘‘staying in the original Samata’’ and so they should be treated as the ‘‘real Samata.’’ They too waved letters they had sent to the Speaker and the EC.And this JD (U) split looks official. Under existing laws, it’s left to interpretation whether the two Samata MPs can stay back in their parent party and claim it to be their own.As a result, the combined JD (U)’s two senior-most leaders, George Fernandes and Sharad Yadav, left a few minutes before the scheduled press conference, claiming they had ‘‘urgent work.’’ But it seemed likely that they didn’t wish to be put through the embarrassment of questions galore.Shiv Kumar, former Samata spokesman, said the new party had 16 MPs and admitted a new JD (U-D) had come into existence. On the two dissident Samata MPs, he was evasive. He said he had spoken to Mandal thrice during the day and that he would have also had a conversation with Jha had the latter not rushed to Patna because of a death in the family.In real terms, it has been more a gain for Sharad than Fernandes. Fernandes’ party has gained just four MPs while Yadav is trying to position himself as the No 2 in the new party ahead of Nitish Kumar.The Railways minister appeared enthusiastic about the merger when he addressed the party’s national council. He used the platform to invite old Janata hands to join the new party and accept its survival within the NDA. The invitation was meant, among others, for Ramvilas Paswan.But Fernandes’ attempt to emerge as a leader of a large number of Parliamentarians within the NDA has not really taken off. The JD (U)’s tally of 16 MPs is way behind N Chandrababu Naidu’s command over 29 MPs. His overtures to other allies to join a loose alliance has not yielded any immediate favourable response.Mamata continues to mull over the suggestion. The BJD is reluctant. The INLD does not think the idea of such an alliance within the larger coalition is feasible. The Southern allies are simply not interested.On the other hand, Sharad Yadav was quite taken by surprise by Devendra Prasad Yadav’s flaunting of the letter of recognition. The other MP of JD (U-D) is Shashikumar.There was something similar about what D P Yadav and Brahmanand Mandal had to say about the merger. Both complained they had not been ‘‘consulted’’. Both felt that the merger was being brought about to better the electoral prospects of leaders like Fernandes and Sharad .
