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Raghunath nominated Samata
Party Bihar unit chief: PTI

Kumar was authorised by the party's state council at Patna on January 5 to nominate a leader of his choice.

Rebels, opposed to Kumar's proposal for merger of the Samata Party with the Janata Dal-United, had held a parallel meeting at Patna on January 5 and elected Jha as Bihar unit president and a split appeared inevitable in the party.

The development snowballed into a major crisis before the party's national council meeting at Mysore in mid-January when Kumar resigned from the Union Cabinet, though his resignation letter was rejected by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

As six dissident parliamentarians decided to boycott the Mysore conclave, senior party leader and Defence Minister George Fernandes mollified them with an assurance that there was no merger proposal. Following the assurance, the rebels withdrew their boycott call and attended the session.

The rebels later met Fernandes on January 15, where the defence minister virtually pulled his party back from the brink of a split when Jha agreed to step down from the post under a truce worked out by Fernandes.

EARLIER REPORTS
PM rejects Nitesh Kumar's resignation
Samata Party splits in Bihar
Nitish latest to fall victim to Raghunath Jha's style
Nitish to quit Union Cabinet: PTI
Samata Party split averted: PTI

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