Senior Janata Dal leaders were talking about a new symbol for the party in view of the inevitability of a split following the refusal of Laloo Prasad Yadav to step down as Chief Minister after being charge-sheeted by the CBI in the multi-crore animal husbandry case yesterday.
A split is imminent now. Laloo Yadav is waiting for the so-called organisational elections to be forced on him before announcing a split, a senior leader said.
Matters worsened with senior leader Sharad Yadav exhorting party MLAs in Bihar to revolt against the Chief Minister. On the other hand, senior leaders appeared to have lost interest in the organisation elections in which Laloo Yadav is pitted against Sharad Yadav. They seem to have resigned themselves to a split. Talk of a new symbol and other paraphernalia of a new party was prompted by two reasons: the perceived inevitability of a split, and the statement by the Election Commission yesterday that the Janata Dals office-bearers would stand de-recognised if the organisational elections are not completed by July 3, the deadline set by the Supreme Court.
The commissions policy applied to the Congress will also have to be examined for application to the Janata Dal, if the party does not work out a method for completion of organisational elections by July 3, chief election commissioner MS Gill said.
Party leaders were worried more about the possibility of a split than the commissions threat of de-recognising their party.
Even if the commission derecognises the party for some time, we will lose our symbol. In the case of a split too we will lose the symbol and our party will get crippled, a senior leader said.
One of the observers appointed by the Supreme Court to oversee the party elections, S Jaipal Reddy, yesterday expressed his inability to take up the job, citing personal reasons. In any case the observers job would become redundant once the split came through, remarked a party functionary. He said due to the current level of animosity between Laloo Yadav and Sharad Yadav, nobody was willing to take charge.
There were complaints of irregularities in the constitution of the electoral college from seven states, he disclosed. If any observer accepted that there were irregularities, he would incur Sharad Yadavs wrath and if he did not, he would face Laloo Yadavs ire.
Loyalists of Laloo Yadav, including two Union ministers, meanwhile condemned the raids conducted by the CBI on the houses of his relatives and demanded that an independent enquiry be set up to monitor the functioning of CBI officials.
His supporters include the two ministers, Kanti Singh and Jainarain Nishad, and MPs Sompal, MAA Fatmi, Nagmani, AK Mehta, Bhagwati Devi, Giridharilal Yadav, Naresh Yadav, Jagadambi Prasad Mandal and Virendra Singh.
