Political uncertainty continued in Bihar as Assembly Speaker Deo Narayan Yadav on Monday put on hold Laloo Prasad Yadavs attempt to have his new political outfit recognised as rechristened Janta Dal.
The Bihar Chief Minister has approached both the Speaker of the Assembly and chairman of the state council, Jabbir Hussain, to recognise the Rashtriya Janta Dal as the reincarnation of the Dal. The speaker denied that he was under pressure to act in wild haste and avoided committing himself to any line of action on the request of Laloo Prasad Yadav. He said that Bihars parliamentary affairs minister, Raghunath Jha, and the leader of the opposition, Sushil Kumar Modi, had also met him in this connection.
The Speaker while talking to media persons said that he was yet to receive the communication from the Chief Minister. After the papers are put before me, I will give consideration to all points of view and take a decision cautiously, carefully and judiciously.
He hoped that his decision would satisfy all sections of the House.
When media persons persisted on a possible date by which a decision would be taken, the Speaker said he would certainly dispose off the matter by July 14, the day on which the monsoon session of the state Assembly commences.
He made it very clear that I am here to clear the confusion, not to confound it.
Meanwhile, the leader of opposition, Sushil Kumar Modi, who led a delegation to the Speaker, said that only the duly elected president of the Janta Dal, Sharad Yadav, had the authority to decide about the status of the members of his party. He said that the breakaway group had no right to claim anything about them. In fact, Modi requested the speaker to terminate the membership of Laloo Prasad Yadav on the charge of voluntarily abandoning the party on whose symbol he was elected to the House.
Modi pointed out that some MPs claiming to belong to the RJD were reported to have sought separate seating arrangements in the Lok Sabha but strangely in Bihar its leadership was pleading for recognition of the RJD in place of the Janata Dal.
The leader of the opposition, questioning the eligibility of the newly formed RJD, said the new party had neither framed its constitution nor had constituted its executive committee. Besides, Modi said the Election Commission had given its recognition to the new party.
On the other hand, Kamal Paswan, the state unit of the RJD, claimed that there was no threat to the government headed by Laloo Prasad. According to him it was not a split but the renaming of the old party. He said that his party was very much in saddle but if the situation required it would not hesitate to seek support from the Congress and other like minded parties. But in no case would the RJD seek support from the communal parties like the BJP and the Samta Party. He dared the dissidents to parade before the Governor to prove their majority. He requested them to return to the party fold and assured that no action would initiated against them.
