New Delhi: After having buried their hatchet, top Samata Party leaders including George Fernandes and Nitish Kumar on July 18 left for the holy abode of Amarnath to invoke divine blessings.

They were accompanied by party MP Prabhunath Singh, whose walkout from a recent party meeting triggered a major crisis in the party with Railway Minister Nitish Kumar putting in his resignation. Two more party MPs Arun Kumar and Basistha Narayan Singh are also accompanying them.

The crisis was sorted out at a tea-party between Kumar and Prabhunath Singh and efforts are now on to patch up the differences within the party with Lok Sabha elections just a year away.

However, the expelled MPs Raghunath Jha and Brahmanand Mandal as also three Bihar Legislators continued to be in a recalcitrant mood over the issue of their corruption charges against Kumar and have convened a meeting at Patna on July 19 under the banner of a new outfit Loktantrik Samata Party (LSP) to launch a frontal attack on the Railway Minister.

Before embarking on the "Amarnath yatra", Kumar said he wanted to undertake the pilgrimage for quite a long time.

"I had told Fernandes that whenever he goes to Amarnath, he should take me along," he said.

To questions about the crisis in his party, Kumar said there was no crisis now. "I have learnt a lesson that even if I want to resign, I cannot," he added.

PTI