With the JD(U) legislature party putting seal of approval on the merger plan and authorising party president Sharad Yadav and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to carry forward the process, a section of the legislature party has opposed the merger of the party and urged the Chief Election Commissioner to allow them to keep the existence of the JD(U), party’s symbol and flag. None of the dissident however, attended the meeting as they had not been invited.
On Wednesday late night, the JD(U)lP approved the resolution of the merger brought by senior Minister Vijay Kumar Chaudhary. He said all the JD(U) MPs and legislators attended the meeting and they were in favour of hastening the merger formalities. They were of the view that the merger of Janata Parivar constituents was must to defeat the BJP and its divisive politics, Chaudhary said.
The dissidents, all supporters of former Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, numbering about 10 are against the merger. Islampur MlA Rajiv Ranjan shot a letter to the CEC informing him that he and some other JD(U) MlAs did not want to become part of the merger and would prefer to stay with the JD(U).
Ranjan quoted Tenth Schedule of the Constitution which provides that two-thirds of the party’s legislators should give in writing to endorse merger. Article 102(2) and 191(2) provides, “….the merger of the original political party of a member of a House shall be deemed to have taken place if, and only if, not less than two-thirds of the members of the legislature party concerned have agreed to such merger.”
The Constitution further provides, “A member of a House shall not be disqualified where his original political party merges with another political party and he claims that he and any other members of his original political party - (a) have become members of such other political party or, as the case may be, of a new political party formed by such merger; or (b) have not accepted the merger and opted to function as a separate group.”
Ranjan claimed he has support of 18 MlAs who oppose the “unnatural” merger. He also clarified that of the 18 MlAs, the membership of 8 had been terminated by the Assembly Speaker. The 10 MlAs of which Ranjan claimed support are: Manjhi, Birshen Patel, Nitish Mishra, Shahid Ali Khan, (all former Ministers), Rajeshwar Raj, Dinesh Kushwaha, Anil Kumar, Sunil, Ajay Kumar and Sumit Kumar.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Shrawan Kumar rejected the claim of Ranjan and said the resolution authorising Sharad and Nitish was passed unanimously at the JD(U)lP meeting and there was not a single voice of dissent. “He should explain who authorised him to write to the CEC. Those who deviate from the party discipline would be taken to task. Even if they have been suspended from the party they are bound to obey the whip,” said Kumar and hoped that the Election Commission would not take notice of Ranjan’s petition.
Manjhi to meet FB friends: Former CM Jitan Ram Manjhi will meet his Facebook friends on April 18. According to a Press release, the meeting will be in three segments: Tea with Manjhi, talk with Manjhi and snap with Manjhi. The former CM, who joined Facebook only recently, has over 16,000 followers.