Infighting in the ruling JD-U in Bihar on Monday took a new turn with state unit chief Rajiv Ranjan Singh Lallan on Monday submitting his resignation to party president Sharad Yadav. His resignation has,however,not been accepted by the party leadership which wants to resolve the differences between Lallan and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar at a time when state Assembly elections are due later this year. Lallan has been accusing Kumar,his one-time close associate,of behaving like a "dictator" and ignoring and overlooking genuine party workers and treating the party as his pocket organisation. "I submitted my resignation as party's Bihar unit chief on Monday to Sharadji and have told him that I don't consider myself as state president on Monday onwards. "However,he (Yadav) has told me that he would sort out the differences within the party through discussions within 10 days. Till then my resignation has been kept on hold. However,I stand by my decision," Lallan,a Lok Sabha member,said after his two-hour meeting with Yadav. "On my part,I suggested Sharadji that he should devise an internal mechanism which would help the party function in a democratic manner," he said. When contacted,Yadav said he has not accepted Lallan's resignation and has told him that his grievances would be addressed through discussions within the party in 10 days. "It is not a major crisis. I have not accepted his resignation and have told him that we will have discussions with all the leaders (including Kumar) and sort out the differences," he said. Lallan dismissed as rumour reports that he has received feelers from Congress. "I want to clearly say that this is all rumour mongering. I will never leave JD(U) as I have built it brick by brick. It is like a house where we all are family members. There is no truth in these rumours and I have received no overtures from any party," he said. Lallan has rued that he has not been consulted by the Chief Minister while taking decisions during the past four years. On whether Kumar tried to speak to him after he aired his grievances in the media about his style of functioning,Lallan said he had not met or spoken to the chief minister. Internal bickering has surfaced in the party after JD(U)'s poor performance in the by-poll to 18 assembly seats in September last. The latest development comes close on the heels of former party MP Prabhunath Singh launching a vicious campaign to undermine JD(U) in the state. Singh had blamed Kumar for the poor results and charged him with not bothering for upper caste votes crucial for JD-U. JD(U)'s national spokesman and Rajya Sabha member Shivanand Tiwari too is said to be sulking while another senior party leader and MLC Shambhu Nath Srivastwa has also indicated to launch a new party.
