JD-U denies any split in its ranks

There is no split in the Janata Dal United (JD-U) and that most MPs and MLAs are with Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, party spokesperson K.C. Tyagi said on Monday.

Tyagi said that only rebel MP Ali Anwar Ansari, who was suspended from the parliamentary party for taking part in a meeting of opposition parties, was with senior leader Sharad Yadav.

"Since most of the MPs, party office bearers, state unit presidents and MLAs are with Nitish Kumar, so the question of split does not arise," he told reporters here.

"Out of 11 MPs, nine are with Nitish Kumar. Both Lok Sabha MPs and seven out of nine Rajya Sabha MPs are with Nitish Kumar. Ali Anwar Ansari is the only MP who is with Sharad Yadav. Ansari's term is ending in March next year," Tyagi said.

He added that only five state committees of the party are recognised by the Election Commission and all those five state units - Bihar, Jharkhand, Kerala, Jammu and Kashmir, and Dadara and Nagar Haveli - are with Nitish Kumar.

"Except for Arun Shrivastava and Varghese George, all the party General Secretaries, a total of eight, are with Nitish Kumar. Among the Secretaries, only Virender Singh Bidhuri has gone with Sharad Yadav. The rest five are with us," Tyagi said.

Dismissing the news of most party units going with Sharad Yadav, Tyagi said only Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Rajasthan and Gujarat have gone with Yadav.

Those who have pledged support to Nitish Kumar include Bihar, Jharkhand, Dadara and Nagar Haveli, Jammu and Kashmir, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, West Bengal, Manipur, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Chandigarh and Goa, he said.

"We have video tapes and letters written by them in our favour. We can produce the same before you (mediapersons)," Tyagi said.

"In Kerala, M.P. Veerendra Kumar has decided to remain neutral. He is set to resign from Rajya Sabha and join the Left Democratic Front (LDF) in his state. We have no objection to his move" Tyagi said.

He said only "one or two people" have "voluntarily" left the party or are about to leave it and it cannot be called a split.

"Sharad Yadav has voluntarily given up the party. He is the real 'tyagi' (ascetic), not me," he said.

Asked why Sharad Yadav has not been suspended or expelled from the party, like others going with him have been, Tyagi said it was "not an easy decision" for the party to make.

"Sharad Yadav is a very senior leader. We have immense respect for him. It is very difficult for us to take action against him. There is a difference between him and others," Tyagi said.

He said Nitish Kumar enjoyed "mass base, not caste base".

"In Bihar, we have 71 MLAs. Not a single MLA or Minister came to meet Yadav while he was touring Bihar. No district president welcomed him across 13 districts. So where is the split?" he said.

--IANS

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