Sharad Yadav faction says it will take on Nitish for 'unconstitutional acts'

Javed Raza, a party general secretary who was "removed" from his position, rejected the contention of Kumar-led faction that Yadav's participation in Lalu's rally amounted to giving up membership of JD(U).

He maintained that the Yadav faction was the real JD(U) and that it has moved the Election Commission to claim that a majority of the party's rank and file is with them and that the party's symbol should be allotted to them.

"I vehemently deny that he (Yadav) has committed any anti-party activities and the same are totally false and baseless. Be that as it may, this is a classic case of 'ulta chor kotwal ko dante' (pot calling the kettle black)," Raza said in a statement.

To hit out at Kumar, the Bihar Chief Minister, he cited earlier decisions of the party to fight the BJP while justifying Yadav's participation in yesterday's RJD rally in Patna which was attended by leaders of several opposition parties.

The statement of Raza, a close aide of Yadav, is a rejoinder to the party's secretary general KC Tyagi's charge yesterday that Yadav had indulged in anti-party activities by participating Lalu's rally in Patna.

Tyagi had also claimed that Yadav's participation in the rally had amounted to his voluntarily giving up the party.

"In these circumstances, your (Tyagi's) contention and threat that he (Yadav) has voluntarily given up the party's membership is mere political grandstanding and the JD(U) reserves its right to move proceedings before appropriate forum to take action against the unconstitutional acts committed by the faction led by Nitish Kumar," Raza said.

He, however, did not specify what the "unconstitutional acts" were.

"In fact, it is Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar Ji and you (Tyagi) who have abandoned the JD(U)'s basic principles and have voluntarily given up its membership," he alleged.

Tyagi had yesterday said the party will write to Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu seeking disqualification of Yadav, who attended the opposition rally in Patna defying the party's directive against it.

JD(U) has witnessed a divide ever since Kumar dumped the alliance with RJD and Congress and decided to go with the BJP a few weeks back.