Sharad Yadav faction appoints Chotubhai as JD-U chief

New Delhi: The Sharad Yadav faction of the Janata Dal (United) on Sunday appointed Chotubhai Amarsinh Vasava, whose ballot might have been the deciding vote in the re-election of senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel to the Rajya Sabha, as its national president effectively removing Bihar CM Nitish Kumar from the position.

Mr Yadav, who claims the real JD(U) is with him, held a “bonafide” national convention of the party in here on Sunday. The senior leader, who parted company with Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar after the latter decided to join the NDA, has also approached the Election Commission claiming the JD(U) arrow symbol as its own. However, the Election Commission has refused to take cognizance of the matter and has sought more evidence from him on the kind of support base he enjoys in the party.

“We have already submitted all the documents and sought another four weeks time from the EC. On Monday, we would be meeting the EC again to enquire on the status of our application as to whether they have admitted our petition or not,” Arun Srivastava, JD(U) leader aligned with Mr Yadav said.

Mr Kumar has also written  to the Rajya Sabha secretariat to remove Mr Yadav as the JD(U) member from the Upper House as he was involved in anti-party activities.

Rajya Sabha chairperson M. Venkaiah Naidu has taken cognizance of the matter, and is likely to refer it to the privileges committee of the Upper House.

Though Mr Yadav has the support of many of the state unites, all the 71 MLAs of Bihar have sided with Mr Kumar. The former is also holding ‘Sanjha Virasat’ conclaves across the country and has been appointed the convener of an Opposition alliance against the Modi government.