The Nitish Kumar-led JD(U) on Friday approached the Election Commission to counter Sharad Yadav’s claims over the party and symbol.
Senior leaders K C Tyagi, RCP Singh, Lallan Singh and Sanjay Jha urged the Commission at a meeting to take an expedite decision on their plea that the party led by Kumar is the real one.
The JD(U) submitted affidavits of all the 71 MLAs, 30 MLCs and two Lok Sabha MPs as well as seven out of nine Rajya Sabha members, 16 out of 20 central office bearers, 16 out of 22 state unit presidents and 143 out of 180 National Council members in support of Kumar.
The delegation said the Yadav faction, which approached the Commission last month, did not produce any document or affidavits to prove the numbers they claim they have.
“We want the EC to reject the opposite camp’s application. Our case is stronger than that of Akhilesh Yadav when he had wrested control of Samajwadi Party from his father Mulayam Singh Yadav,” Tyagi said.
“Mulayam Singh was party president while Sharad Yadav is not, some of the Samajwadi Party MLAs and office-bearers were with Mulayam while in our case, none of the MLAs are with Yadav so there is no contest here,” he said.
The JD(U) on Tuesday approached Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu seeking termination of Yadav’s Rajya Sabha membership on charges of anti-party activities. It had earlier removed Yadav from the Parliamentary Party leadership after the Monsoon session.
Yadav has been opposing Kumar’s decision to break the Grand Alliance in Bihar and then joining hands with BJP to form a government in the state.
He did not attend the National Council meeting on August 19 in Patna called to clear the decision on joining NDA, but organised a meeting of his own.
