Sharad Yadav at his residence in New Delhion Wednesday. Anil Sharma
Four days after he was removed as the leader of the JD(U) parliamentary party by the dominant Nitish Kumar faction, Sharad Yadav on Wednesday called for a convention on Thursday to mobilise people for safeguarding the “composite culture” of India.
Yadav told the media that leaders from all Opposition parties, including the Congress, SP and Left parties, are likely to attend the convention. When asked who all would turn up, he said, “There would be hardly anybody from the Opposition who will not come.” Sources close to him said the invitees included Congress president Sonia Gandhi, vice-president Rahul Gandhi and party leaders Ahmed Patel and Ghulam Nabi Azad, CPM leader Sitaram Yechury, RJD leader Lalu Prasad and SP leader Akhilesh Yadav.
Yadav was flanked by Ali Anwar Ansari, a Rajya Sabha member who has been suspended from the parliamentary party by the JD(U), and Arun Shrivastava, recently sacked from the post of general secretary as he spoke to reporters. Shrivastav earned the wrath of party chief Nitish Kumar after he “unauthorisedly” wrote to the Returning Officer of the Gujarat Assembly, appointing an election agent for the Rajya Sabha from the state. The lone JD(U) MLA in Gujarat, Chhotu Vasava, had voted for Congress’s Ahmed Patel in the Rajya Sabha election despite a recently forged alliance between the BJP and JD(U).
Yadav said the “composite culture” was the soul of the Constitution, which, in his view, was being “tinkered with”.
Sources in the JD(U) indicated that the dominant faction would act against Yadav if he attended the RJD’s August 27 rally in Patna. JD(U) secretary-general K C Tyagi said, “He should not go to that rally. We have no problem with the questions he is raising. However, we will take exception to him sharing stage with tainted people… He should not be seen with evil forces.”
