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PRESS TRUST OF INDIA
PATNA, JUNE 8: Senior Samata Party leader Shakuni Choudhary today said the party was on the verge of collapse and blamed Union Minister Nitish Kumar for the ills that plagued the party.
Choudhary told mediapersons here that Kumar was hell bent on ``writing the obituary of the party by behaving like a dictator''.
He said Kumar was responsible for creating a ``crevice among the Koeris and Kurmis'' who had aligned to form the Samata Party's support base to free Bihar from the clutches of Laloo Prasad Yadav, but today, the party stands at the crossroads, thanks to Nitish Kumar.
Asked about the possibility of his joining the Rashtriya Janata Dal, Choudhary said he would decide his future course of action after discussions with party president George Fernandes on June 10.
Choudhary also lashed out at State party president Raghunath Jha for trying to break the Samata Party-BJP combine by staking claim to the Sheohar seat represented by Anand Mohan. If the alliance between the Samata Party and the BJPcollapsed, it would be very difficult for the Samata Party to open its account in Bihar in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections.
Choudhary said no sooner did Jha become the party president than, ``he began packing the party with people having scant respect for social justice... thereby posing a grave threat to the existence of the Samata Party''.
``I reiterate that I do not accept Raghunath Jha as my leader since he has done little for the well-being of the party.... Not only I, but the people of Bihar do not accept him as a leader of `character', since he has announced that blood will flow in the streets if the CBI dares arrest Laloo Prasad Yadav in the fodder scam.''
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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