LUCKNOW The UP Janata Dal (B) president, Mr Ram Poojan Patel’s resignation from the party post may prove to be the beginning of large-scale exodus of State leaders who are gradually getting disenchanted with central leadership led by the former prime minister, Mr V. P. Singh.
In his resignation letter sent to the party president, Mr S R Bommai, Mr Patel is understood to have written that if the former prime minister was so keen to see a Dalit ascend to the top post in the country, his party should have made the beginning at home and given at least one of the two Rajya Sabha and one State Council seat to a member of the Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe,
He confirmed his resignation when contacted by phone, but deferred a detailed explanation for a couple” of days. What seems to have irked Mr Patel and a number of other leaders within the party is the manner in which the party high command ignored the State unit in selecting candidates for the Upper House in Parliament.
The Janata Dal’ (B) State chief who had been appointed by Mr. VY. P. Singh himself last August , despite stiff resistance from the then unit chief, Mr Kailash Nath Yadav, has left his mentor within nine months of his appointment. During this period, the once 91member Janata Dal in the State Assembly was vertically split into” two factions -Janata Dal (B) and Janata Dal (A). Now w remains of the Janata Dal (B) is on the path of disintegration,
Mr Patel’s lever to Mr Bommai “reads like a damning indictment of the party’s national been whom he has accused of double Standards.
Article extracted from this publication >> June 10, 1994
