JDU8217;s merger plan still in troubled waters

NEW DELHI, JANUARY 5: On the eve of the formal merger of the Janata Dal United, Samata Party and the Lok Shakti, serious differences con...

NEW DELHI, JANUARY 5: On the eve of the formal merger of the Janata Dal United, Samata Party and the Lok Shakti, serious differences continued to persist among the three parties on the issue of the leadership of the merged entity. At the steering committee meeting of the three parties tonight, the JD U and the Lok Shakti supported the continuation of Sharad Yadav as the president of the merged party, while the Samata Party made a strong pitch for his replacement by its chief George Fernandes.

Fernandes himself did not attend the meeting though he was in the Capital, but Samata representatives Digvijay Singh and Jaya Jaitley strongly advocated their leader8217;s case for assuming the leadership of the combined entity. Another Samata leader, Nitish Kumar, also did not attend the meeting as he was out of Delhi.

Equally strong in pushing Sharad Yadav8217;s case were representatives of both the JD U and the Lok Shakti. When the Samata leaders proposed Fernandes8217; name for presidentship, Lok Shakti leaders MRaghupathy and Jeevaraj Alva countered that they too could demand that Ramakrishna Hegde be made the new president. They said that they would be justified if they were to make such a demand because the Lok Shakti was the quot;loserquot;, as Hegde was overlooked for a ministerial berth.

Though belonging to the JD U, Ram Vilas Paswan also does not favour Sharad Yadav8217;s continuation, although he couched what he had in mind by saying that instead of deciding the issue at a big forum like the steering committee, it should be left to some four-five senior leaders of the three parties. He was rebuffed by Alva who said that this was not a democratic way of going about things.

Till yesterday, the Samata Party was proposing either J H Patel or Fernandes for presidentship, but today it seemed to have dropped the former8217;s name. Interestingly, Patel who enjoys an excellent rapport with Fernandes conveyed his wish through an emissary Basavaraja Rayareddy that he had no objection to Sharad Yadav8217;s continuation as thepresident.

The Samata also wants that the name of the new party should reflect the identity of all the three parties and not just the Janata Dal. Before the steering committee met, the Lok Shakti8217;s national executive in an obvious move passed a resolution favouring Yadav8217;s continuation as party chief till alternative arrangements were made. The Lok Shakti has been blaming Fernandes for the raw deal meted out to Hegde during the Cabinet formation.

The general body of the three parties is scheduled to meet tomorrow afternoon when the formal merger is to take place.