Chhotubhai Amarsinh Vasava, a tribal leader and MLA from Jhagadia in Gujarat, was Monday unanimously elected acting president of the Sharad Yadav-led faction of the JD(U). The election took place at a meeting of the national executive of the faction at Constitution Club. The meeting, chaired by K Rajasekharan, decided to hold fresh organisational elections within six months. The polls will be overseen by returning officer Subhash Chandra Shrivastav.
The meeting comes days after the Election Commission shot down the faction’s claim over the JD(U) name, flag and election symbol. The group has sought four weeks’ time to submit a fresh plea with requisite documents. Vasava, JD(U)’s lone MLA in Gujarat, had claimed to have voted for Congress’s Ahmed Patel in the Rajya Sabha election.
Asked about the faction’s position on the status of Bihar CM and JD(U) chief Nitish Kumar, senior leader Arun Kumar Shrivastav said Nitish was elected acting party president for six months on April 10, 2016 and was required to hold organisational elections in this period. Also, he said, Nitish appointed Aneel Hegde as returning officer at a meeting of national office-bearers on June 2, 2016, and not the national council, as is required under the party constitution. So, elections conducted by Hegde and decisions taken by him were illegal, he said, implying that Nitish, in the view of the rival faction, is not party president. As for any “action” against Nitish, he said, “The Disciplinary Committee headed by me will look into the matter”.
Responding to a question on Sharad Yadav, he said: “He is our leader, our patron. We deliberately kept him out of the current factional feud. He will strive for a unity among all Janata Dal groupings and mobilise people for a bigger fight under the banner of Sanjhi Virasat”. Asked if the faction would join UPA, Kumar said, “We have not taken any decision.” However, UPA partners were on board Sanjhi Virasat campaign, he said.
In reply to a question, Rajya Sabha member Ali Anwar told reporters that he and Sharad would be seeking a month’s time to reply to a notice on a petition seeking their disqualification from the House. “We will meet Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu and request for more time,” he said. They have been given a week to respond to the petition submitted by Ramchandra Prasad Singh, who has been elected leader of JD(U) in Rajya Sabha.
