''Samata convention taking place with Fernandes' consent'':Shivkumar

New Delhi, Jan 19 (UNI) The George Fernandes' faction of Janata Dal (United), which is meeting here to revive the Samata Party on Sunday, today claimed that the meeting was taking place with the ''blessing and consent'' of the former Defence Minister who is also the Convener of the National Democratic Alliance.

'JD(U) General Secretary Shiv Kumar, the main person behind organising J D(U) loyalists convention on January 21, told UNI that the leaders had requested Mr Fernandes who was in Delhi to attend the convention and ''we expect him to attend it.'' The J D (U) declined to react on the issue and said it will react when the convention took place meaning that Mr Fernandes may not take the risk of disqualification of his Lok Sabha membership from Muzaffarpur.

Asked for his reaction about the meeting of Bihar Chief Minister Nitesh Kumar with BJP President Rajnath Singh, Mr Shiv Kumar said he was not surprised about the reports suggesting that Mr Fernandes may be replaced by Shiv Sena leader Manohar Joshi. ''Mr Nitish Kumar,'' he alleged'' in Bihar claims that Fernandes was a 'sarva manya neta'', but in Delhi is conspiring to remove him from NDA leadership.'' Answering a query if he had heard anything from BJP, he said he was only reacting to the published news reports.

Taking a snipe at Mr Nitish Kumar and his style of functioning, Mr Shiv Kumar said he had never shouldered any organisational responsibilities right from day one in Samata Party but compelled the party to toe his line. Mr Fernandes, on the other hand, had always given Mr Kumar a long rope, Mr Shiv Kumar said.

In a related development, two J D (U) National Executive members Irshad Ahmed and B K Tiwari, whose name figured in the list of participants in the Samata Party convention called by Mr Shiv Kumar said they never given consent to use their name.

Mr Shiv Kumar on his part alleged that the Sharad Yadav faction was using all methods and allurements to ensure that they did not take part in the meeting of the Fernandes group. ''You will see that several prominent people will be attending the convention on Sunday,'' he said.

UNI