Laloo threatens to split Dal

Laloo Yadav8217;s supporters who met at the residence of former Union Minister Chandradeo Prasad Verma said that they would announce their future course of action tomorrow. They added that they were contacting their supporters in the States to back their move.

8220;The voters8217; list of about 10 States are faulty. How can the election be held in such circumstances ?8221; Verma said. 8220;Our leader is Laloo and we form the majority in the party,8221; his colleagues Ram Kripal Yadav and Nagmani, both MPs from Bihar, declared.

The Laloo camp also expressed its distrust of Madhu Dandavate who is now the lone observer for the July 3 poll after the Supreme Court removed Union Minister Raghuvans Prasad Singh, a loyalist of the Bihar Chief Minister, as the second observer. It alleged that Dandavate was partisan and had passed on information surreptitiously to the rival camp.

8220;We will hold a parallel election for party presidentship,8221; said Sompal, a Laloo camp follower.Reacting to the Laloo group8217;s move, Sharad Yadav said that nobody could disregard the Supreme Court8217;s order.

8220;The court has tried to ensure internal democracy in the party and I welcome it,8221; he said, adding that those who were talking of boycotting the poll were confined to Bihar. 8220;But I have confidence in the masses and partyMLAs of the State,8221; he added. Dandavate announced in the evening that the poll would be held on July 3 in all the State capitals. He said that in cases where there was prima facie evidence of irregularities, the members of the national council would be denied the right to vote.

Voting would also be barred to those nominated to the national council by the State unit chiefs without authorisation by the State councils and also to the returning officers, he said.

Dandavate explained that he and Singh had agreed that the election should be held by the deadline of July 3 to prevent the Election Commission from freezing the party symbol and derecognising it. It was also agreed that only those complaints which come up during the four days fixed by the SC would be looked into, he said.

He declined to spell out the number of complaints that had come up but said that they were classified into 15 categories. Asked about Singh8217;s statement that the number ran into hundreds, he said that the former had not referred to any number at their meeting.

He also made it clear that he would be happy if some workable solution was found towards ensuring an unanimous choice before the election.

After the Supreme Court verdict, Singh said that he was grateful to the court for relieving him of the 8220;unpleasant task8221; of conducting the poll when 70 per cent of the voters8217; list was fake. He claimed that at his meeting with Dandavate yesterday it was conclusively established that the electoral rolls were defective.

He said that he would do all he could to avert a split in the party but if it happened, 8220;I would be the saddest person.8221;