Who's First Among The Equals?

No two Indian socialists have been known to cohabit for long. That perhaps explains the protracted sniping between the George Fernandes and Nitish Kumar camps in the Samata Party. In February this year, Nitish manipulated the removal of George’s confidant, Raghunath Jha, as head of the Bihar unit. Most thought peace had been bought. But last week Nitish loyalists called Jha and Brahmanand Mandal "agents of Laloo" and asked them to quit the party. George loyalists have responded by demanding Nitish’s expulsion. Out of the 12 MPs that Samata has, George reportedly controls 9, while Nitish ‘controls’ all the 29 MLAs in Bihar