Following the breakup of the grand alliance between JD(U), RJD and Congress Bihar has been witnessing a lot of political changes.
On the grounds of former Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav being accused of corruption charges by the CBI and him refusing to resign, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar broke the alliance with RJD and joined hands with BJP. Nitish Kumar remained firm on following the principle of zero tolerance against corruption broke the mahagathbandhan and formed the new government in Bihar with BJP.
A senior leader and one of the founding member of JD(U), Sharad Yadav felt backstabbed with this decision of Kumar and rebelled against the party. This resulted in a split in the party under the leadership of Nitish Kumar and Sharad Yadav. After the split, Sharad claimed that the real JD(U) was with him and hence they should have the party symbol.
The Yadav faction had approached the Election Commission on 25 Aug staking its claim over the party’s election symbol. The faction also claimed that majority of the party’s national council members were backing Sharad Yadav. Responding to the plea by the Sharad Yadav faction, the EC on Wednesday refused to give claim of the party symbol to the Yadav faction. The EC said that they had not submitted the proper documents required.
According to the sources of the EC, the Yadav faction can once again file for the claim with effective and complete documentation. Though the possibilities of any such application to be filed again is less. Also, the rebel leader is well aware of the fact about the strength and power, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar enjoys.
Meanwhile, responding to the application submitted by the Yadav clan, a delegation from the Kumar faction, including Rajya Sabha MP R C P Singh and JD(U) secretary general K C Tyagi, met the EC last week and submitted their documents revealing the details of the its leaders and office bearers extending faith and support to the JD(U) under the leadership of Nitish Kumar. They had also demanded the rejection of the claim staked by the Yadav faction.
KC Tyagi claimed that the JD(U) under Kumar enjoyed the support of all the 71 party MLAs and 30 MLCs, 2 Lok Sabha members and 7 of the 10 Rajya Sabha lawmakers of the party along with other office bearers and had submitted the affidavits of the same to the EC.
This decision of the EC may, however, prove to be a little backdrop for the Yadav faction. As after the split in the party, Sharad along with his supporters is planning to form another party and continue the coalition with RJD and Congress.
However, just a few days back, the unhappy Congress MLAs of Bihar had met the high command Sonia Gandhi and the party vice president Rahul Gandhi saying that looking at the prevailing situations in Bihar, at least for the time being Congress party should withdraw its support to RJD on the basis of RJD Chief Lalu Prasad Yadav being accused of corruption charges against him.