NEW DELHI, Sept 18: Rebel Janata Dal (U) leaders Sharad Yadav and Ali Anwar today sought one-month time from the Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu on the show cause notice served to them on the disqualification plea of the Nitish Kumar faction of the party.
“We met Rajya Sabha Secretary General and submitted relevant papers with a plea that we should get one month more time to respond to the notice of the Rajya Sabha Chairman and Vice President Mr Naidu,” rebel MP Mr Ali Anwar told reporters here.
“Natural justice calls that we get adequate time……the matters raised by our political detractors and raised in the show cause notice involves crucial legal issues.
We two (Sharad Yadav and Ali Anwar) are traveling a lot now and hence we require time,” Mr Anwar said. On September 12, two senior parliamentarians and rebel JD(U) MPs Sharad Yadav and Ali Anwar were served with show cause notices from the Rajya Sabha secretariat asking them to explain their position on the Nitish Kumar faction making a plea seeking their ‘disqualification’ from the Upper House of Parliament.
The JD(U) ‘organisational leadership’ led by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar was irked after Sharad Yadav joined the RJD rally at Patna on August 27 despite the Nitish Kumar faction of the party repeatedly cautioning him against it.
In this context, the Nitish Kumar faction has cited past instances when Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and Satpal Malik were disqualified as Congress members after they formed the Jan Morcha in late eighties.
A formal application was made on September 5 by the new JD(U) floor leader Ram Chandra Prasad Singh seeking disqualification of Mr Yadav and Mr Anwar.
According to sources in the JD(U), the 91st Constitutional Amendment Act of 2003 and the provisions of the Anti Defection laws could validate JD(U)’s complain as the new law makes it clear that “any elected member of Parliament or state legislatures have to seek re-election if they defect”.
The JD(U) leadership (organisational head being party chief Nitish Kumar) is building up their case on the ground that it is “mandatory for all those switching political sides ? whether singly or in groups ? to resign their legislative membership”. Meanwhile, widening the gulf between two factions, the rebel camp yesterday ‘elected’ or named Gujarat MLA Chhotubhai Amarsinh Vasava as the ‘acting President’ of the faction of the Janata Dal United (JD-U). Talking to reporters here today, Mr Vasava lashed out at the BJP Government in Gujarat and also in the centre and his party will give a “determined fight” to the saffron party in alliance with Congress and other parties.
“We will take the help of all like minded parties including the social groups led by Hardik Patel, who has steadfastly opposed BJP Government in Gujarat,” said Mr Vasava, who voted in favour of Congress leader Ahmed Patel in last month’s crucial elections to the Upper House. (UNI)
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