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Serious differences have cropped up within Samata Party over the 'style of functioning' of some senior leaders, prompting George Fernandes to offer to step down from the post of Parliamentary Party leader.
A potential crisis was, however, averted on Thursday evening when these leaders rejected Fernandes' offer, while reiterating their reservations.
At a meeting of party MPs convened hurriedly by the leader of Samata Parliamentary Party George Fernandes on Wednesday night, the 'style of functioning' of former party chief Jaya Jaitley came in for sharp criticism by MPs considered close to Union Minister Nitish Kumar, party sources said on Thursday.
The sources said that when the MPs openly criticised Fernandes for allowing Jaitley and party general secretary Shambhu Srivastava to attend Parliamentary Party meeting, and also for the long gaps between the meetings of the Parliamentary Party, the former defence minister said he would take necessary steps.
At one point of time, the sources said, Fernandes offered to resign from the post of Samata Party leader in Parliament in view of the open criticism against the party's functioning.
However, the sources pointed out that the MPs requested Fernandes to continue as their leader in Parliament.
The outburst of MPs assumes significance in the wake of a subtle move within the party to shift power equations, with a major chunk of 14 Samata MPs moving closer to Nitish Kumar, the lone Union minister from the party.
After Fernandes resigned from the government in the wake of Tehelka expose, rumblings began in the party and the situation deteriorated over the manner in which the leadership handled the issue of change in portfolio of Minister of State Digvijay Singh.
The group of MPs, critical of Fernandes, were reportedly upset over the importance accorded to Singh, who was at first sulking when shifted to commerce ministry and then subsequently reclaimed the portfolio of railways, as an additional charge.
Concerned over the importance given to Singh, these MPs met over lunch hosted by Nitish Kumar at his residence some time back, though officially the occasion was in honour of the new party MP in Rajya Sabha, Dayanand Sahay.
Differences between the two camps first surfaced early this year over the issue of Samata Party's merger with Janata Dal (United).
Just before the party was to elect a new president, the MPs loyal to Fernandes had opposed the merger plan mooted by Kumar.
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