Laloo threatens to sack 'defiant' JD poll official

Janata Dal president Laloo Prasad Yadav on Friday issued a show-cause notice to national returning officer P K Samantray for not accepting his proposal to hold elections at Patna.

A collision course seems to be imminent with both Laloo Yadav and Samantray sticking to their positions over the venue of elections. While Yadav insisted that the elections shall be held at Patna and he, as the party president, had all the powers, Samantray said that the elections shall be held in the state headquarters and the counting would take place in New Delhi after receipt of ballot papers from the states. He said he could not accept Laloo Yadav's proposal because it was made after he had become a candidate for the party presidency.

With this defiant stand of Samantray, an angry Laloo Yadav announced that he would be dismissing the returning officer for acting beyond his powers if he failed to get a reply by 10.00 am on Saturday.

In another development, party working president Sharad Yadav, pitted against Laloo Yadav for the presidential polls, said that once the election process started nobody could interfere with the conduct of the polls.

Samantray said he had gone through the party constitution and had consulted party elders before reaching this decision. He said he would be guided by the party's rules and constitution and his own conscience.

He said he received a letter from Laloo Yadav informing him about the nomination of 53 members to the national council. This was unacceptable as the decision was taken after the election process had been started. These members, he clarified, could actively participate in the elections, but not vote.

This assertion by the returning officer is bound to create bitterness in the party especially in view of Laloo Yadav's statement that he alone could decide on the venue of the national council meeting in the national executive's absence.

Party working president Sharad Yadav, who is also contesting the presidential poll, and Laloo Yadav met at the party office on Friday afternoon. Both refused to comment on the meeting.

UNI Tara Shankar Sahay adds from New Delhi: Laloo Yadav on Thursday had unilaterally announced that the party presidential election would be held at Patna on June 10, 11 and 12 while working president Sharad Yadav declined to comment on the Bihar chief minister's decision, saying all matters pertaining to the poll came under the purview of the returning officer.

Now that the JD national council had become defunct, Laloo Yadav said he was scrutinising the voters's lists for the election as he had come across certain irregularities. For instance, though Lakshwadeep had only one district, vested interests had given it 10, proportionately increasing its national council members. This, Laloo Yadav pointed out, would be rectified.

Asked if Sharad Yadav was behind the irregularities, the Bihar CM answered in the affirmative. ''What does Sharad Yadav know about education? I am more educated than he is. I am a law graduate,'' he said, sending mediapersons into peals of laughter.

As Laloo Yadav's views kicked up a storm in the party, his detractors said he had no authority to decide on anything pertaining to the election as he was a candidate himself. One of the two returning officers for the party presidential poll, B K Prasad, is understood to have told the JD leadership that Laloo Yadav cannot decide the venue of the election and that only the returning officer is empowered to do so.

EARLIER STORY:
Laloo finds serious irregularities in the electoral lists for JD polls