MIGHT IS RIGHT: Bihar Chief Minister and Janata Dal president Laloo Prasad Yadav stakes his claim to remain the party president despite lack of support.

ENS & AGENCIESPATNA, May 29: In a controversial move, Janata Dal chief and presidential candidate Laloo Prasad Yadav today nominated 58 of his supporters as members to the national council which will constitute the electoral college, a step his main challenger, Sharad Yadav, said he would oppose.

A day after filing his nomination for the June 10 election, the Bihar Chief Minister said he made the nominations ``in compliance with the party constitution'' that empowered him to nominate five per cent of the national council.

``Without the nominated members, the national council would be incomplete,'' he argued. Sharad Yadav said he was unaware of any move by Laloo Prasad `enrolling' new members but would take up with the returning officer ``if there is something wrong''.

The Bihar Chief Minister, who spent about three hours in the party headquarters at Jantar Mantar here this morning, also `directed' the returning officer for the organisational election, P K Samantray to include the names of the nominated members in the electoral college and also to go into certain `irregularities' in the list.

In a separate letter to the returning officer, Yadav also directed him that the national council would meet at Srikrishna Memorial Hall at Patna from June 10 to 12 and presidential election, if required, would be held on the first day between 9 am and 5 pm. Meanwhile, Dal working president Sharad Yadav's decision to oppose Laloo for the party's presidentship has created serious rifts within the party.

Sharad Yadav, who was once regarded as Laloo's close confidant, has incurred the wrath of Laloo loyalists. Although his decision did not come as a surprise, those belonging to Laloo's close circle have termed his move as a betrayal. Their hope that Sharad would not contest perhaps stemmed from the fact that the JD working president stood by Laloo throughout the recent crisis with the CBI over the latter's alleged involvement in the multi-crore fodder scam.

Laloo, on his part, adopted a circumspect approach as far as Sharad was concerned. According to reports, he met Sharad a fortnight back and offered to resign from chief ministership, adding that that he would, however, continue as party president. Although Sharad chose to remain noncommittal over the proposal, Laloo supporters were sure that he would bail out the Chief Minister from the present crisis. The love-hate relationship between Laloo and Sharad is a well-known secret in the state party circles. The Sharad camp has accused Laloo of manoeuvering against Sharad and preventing him from emerging as a formidable leader of the backwards in North India.

According to the anti-Laloo lobby, dissident activities in the party were curbed only because of Sharad. Speaking to The Indian Express, prominent dissident leader Ramai Ram said: ``The real battle has begun now. For some time, we have been putting pressure on Sharad Yadav to come out openly. But he refrained from doing so in the interest of the party. In fact, we were all angry with him for his inaction''. Echoing similar views, another dissident leader Ganesh Yadav pledged his loyalty to Sharad. Those anti-Laloo leaders who, irked by Sharad's noncommittal stance, had earlier distanced themselves, have now openly come out in his favour. With Sharad also belonging to the Yadav community, the fact that Bihar's Yadavs would not be alienated has been an added bonus.

Party workers of both the camps are leaving for Delhi to express their solidarity with their leaders. Despite the Laloo camp's claims that they would get the support of most of the 148 delegates in the national council from Bihar, their rivals declare that at least 30 per cent of the votes would be cast in Sharad's favour.

However, Laloo's move to hold elections in Patna has unnerved the opposite camp. Apprehending rigging of polls, the leaders have started a signature campaign to convince the JD national leaders to hold the elections in Delhi.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.