NITISH REMOVES SHARAD YADAV AS RS LEADER, GETS NDA INVITE
NEW DELHI/PATNA: The crisis in Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) came to a boil on Saturday as it removed senior leader Sharad Yadav as head of its parliamentary party in the Rajya Sabha.
The party is also contemplating “precipitous steps” to suspend leaders or workers who have been attending Yadav’s rallies in Bihar, sources said.
RCP Singh, a confidante of the chief minister, will replace Yadav as the party leader in Parliament’s Upper House.
Yadav remained unfazed, asserting that the JD (U) “belonged to him and not just to Kumar”. Speaking at Madhepura in north Bihar, the former JD(U) chief said he continued to be a part of the mahagathbandhan or grand alliance that defeated the BJP in 2015 elections in the state. Besides the JD(U), Lalu Prasad’s RJD and the Congress were in the threeparty coalition. It ruled Bihar until Kumar broke ranks and formed a government with the BJP in July.
Several JD(U) leaders, including Yadav, were miffed with Kumar’s “unilateral” decision.
Yadav said he represented the “real” JD (U) and called the faction led by Kumar as the “Sarkari party”.