Kicking-off his three day “direct interaction with people” programme in Bihar, disgruntled Janata Dal (United) (JD-U) leader and the party’s Rajya Sabha member Sharad Yadav on Thursday said, “I continue to stand by the ‘mahagathbandhan’ (‘grand alliance’) of the RJD, Congress and JD(U)…ending the alliance is betrayal of the mandate of 11 crore people of the State…the mandate was given for five years.”
Accompanied by Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leaders on his tour, the senior JD(U) leader said, “I was personally hurt and pained by [the decision] as I too had campaigned hard for the ‘grand alliance’.”
‘First time in history’
Some RJD leaders and party workers were seen receiving Mr. Yadav and shouting slogans in his favour at the Patna airport. However, a lone senior JD(U) leader Ramai Ram, said to be close to RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, also accompanied Mr. Sharad Yadav from the airport.
Mr. Sharad Yadav continued his three-day journey of “direct interaction with the people of the State” and received a warm welcome at Hajipur, Sonepur and Muzaffarpur. “In the history of Independent India, it has happened for the first time that two parties contesting against each other on separate manifestos joined hands midway and formed the government,” Mr. Yadav said while addressing people at Hajipur.
At Sonepur, he said, “People of the sarkari (official) Janata Dal have become the Chief Minister and ministers in Patna but, there is the real Janata Dal among the masses.” When asked whether his tour would not amount to ‘anti-party activity’, Mr. Yadav declined to comment.
Meanwhile, JD(U) State chief spokesperson Sanjay Singh reminded him, “JD(U) means Nitish Kumar and Nitish Kumar means JD(U).” On his three-day Bihar tour, State JD(U) chief Basistha Narayan Singh said, “It is his [Sharad Yadav’s] personal initiative and the JD(U) has nothing to do with it.” Earlier, along with Sharad Yadav, two other JD(U) Rajya Sabha MPs — Ali Anwar Ansari and Virender Kumar — had also opposed Nitish Kumar’s decision to join hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
If sources in the JD(U) are to be believed, party chief Nitish Kumar may suspend Mr. Sharad Yadav from the JD(U), which would mean that the latter would lose all his privileges that a leader of party in the Rajya Sabha.
Grapevine abuzz
The political grapevine in the State is abuzz that Sharad Yadav is in touch with some other disgruntled JD(U) leaders, MLAs and MPs to form a new alliance with the RJD and the Congress to take on Mr. Nitish Kumar.
“The JD(U)’s 14 State presidents are with Sharad Yadav…let Nitish Kumar be with his Bihar unit and rule the State with the BJP,” said Arun Kumar Shrivastva, who was recently was removed from the post of general secretary of the JD(U) after the lone party MLA in Gujarat, Chhotubhai Vasava, declared that he had voted for the Congress candidate Ahmad Patel in the Rajya Sabha election.