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The Rashtriya Janata Dal is heading for a showdown as rebels led by Dr Ranjan Prasad Yadav announced in Delhi on Friday that they would not participate in the two-day national executive of the party, starting in Patna on Saturday.
The decision came after party chief Laloo Prasad Yadav removed Ranjan from the post of leader in the Rajya Sabha on Friday.
Rajya Sabha chairman Krishna Kant accorded recognition to the new leader, Ramdeo Bhandari.
His decision on the last day of the Parliament session came as a big blow to the Ranjan camp, which has been claiming the support of a majority of the 10 Rajya Sabha members.
The rebels said that four of seven Lok Sabha members are with them.
The party national executive is likely to authorise Laloo to take action against the rebels, including Ranjan.
Last week, Ranjan was sacked from the post of working president of the party. Laloo then said that there was no provision for the post in the party and it was only a temporary arrangement. He even conceded that it was a mistake to nominate Ranjan as working president on the eve of going to jail for the first time in July 1997.
Though Rashtriya Janata Dal national spokesman Shivanand Tiwary said that Ranjan was a respected member of the party and had been invited to the national executive, his removal from the post of Rajya Sabha leader indicates that the party is heading for a split.
Three legislators supporting Ranjan called the removal of their leader 'undemocratic and unconstitutional'.
Though party insiders claim that an overwhelming 75 members of the national executive are likely to throw their weight behind Laloo, some members from outside Bihar are loyal to Ranjan.
According to sources, eight party functionaries and state presidents from outside Bihar wrote to Laloo, about their decision to boycott the national executive meeting and dubbed the removal of Ranjan and others from their party posts as unwarranted.
They said that Ranjan had strengthened the party organisation in 23 states.
Among those who have decided not to attend the meeting are Subrata Bhoumick, state president of Tripura, V S T Malik, state president of Chandigarh, Chandrakant Indulkar, party chief of Bombay, Y Ratan K Singh, member of the national executive and Jagmal Singh Yadav, MLA and Rajasthan unit chief.
The rebel sources said that they do not want to split the parliamentary party before Laloo takes any action. They said they would continue to exert pressure from inside and create problems for Laloo. However, Laloo loyalists interpret this as their weakness.
The rebels charged that Laloo did not campaign anywhere outside Bihar during the 1999 parliamentary election.
However, the rebels refused to talk about the number of MLAs from Bihar supporting them. The strength of the rebels in the Bihar Assembly is crucial for the removal of the Rabri Devi Government, but only six MLAs have come out openly against Laloo.
It is the overwhelming support of MLAs for the leadership of Laloo, which has has started creating panic in the rebel camp, and fence-sitters have started deserting them.
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