Patna, July 17: The three-day-old crisis in the Samata Party triggered by the resignation of Railway Minister Nitish Kumar and his stubborn refusal to take it back was over, party president George Fernandes said today. "The crisis is over. Everything has been resolved and I am sure Nitish Kumar will attend his office today," Fernandes told reporters here.
Fernandes, who is also the convenor of the ruling National Democratic Alliance, said, "There were some misunderstandings in the Samata Parliamentary Party, which led to the resignation of the railway minister. As these (misunderstandings) have been resolved, there was no reason why Kumar will not resume his duties as railway minister." Asked if the two expelled MPs Raghunath Jha and Brahmanand Mandal, strident critics of Kumar, would also be taken back into the partyfold now that the misunderstandings have been cleared, Fernandes parried a direct reply saying, certain things do happen in a party and there are always avenues to find a solution.
Kumar had on Monday resigned from the cabinet citing sharp differences in the Samata Parliamentary Party as the reason but his resignation was not accepted by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Asked to comment on his own statement that there was rampant indiscipline in the Samata Party, Fernandes said there was indiscipline at all levels in our country and political parties were no exception. When quizzed about why he had not taken action against the party MLAs in Bihar loyal to Kumar who had adopted a censure motion against him a couple of months ago accusing him of promoting indiscipline, Samata Party president shot back saying, "I don't want to create a fresh crisis."
There were indications of Nitish Kumar withdrawing his resignation when firebrand Samata MP Prabhunath Singh, whose attack against him at the party's national council meet was said to have been the provocation for his resignation, had a two-hour meeting with the railway minister in Delhi last night. Bureau Report