JD(U) takes a step closer towards split
The Janata Dal (United) on Thursday moved a step further towards a split.
In Patna, rebel leader Sharad Yadav, on a tour of the state, said the break-up of the ‘grand alliance’, with Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar aligning with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has betrayed the trust of 110 million people of Bihar, who had voted in 2015 for the ‘grand alliance’ to complete a five-year term.
At one of his meetings, Yadav said there now existed two Janata Dals. “People of the sarkari (official) Janata Dal have become the chief minister and ministers in Patna. The real Janata Dal is among the masses,” he said.
Janata Dal (U) national spokesperson K C Tyagi warned Yadav to not “cross limits” and that he should put forth his point of view at the party’s national executive in Patna on August 19. JD(U) sources said Yadav could be removed as the party’s leader in the Rajya Sabha, if not expelled. Tyagi said the path Yadav has chosen leads to the doors of Lalu Prasad-led Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD).
In an act of defiance, Yadav is hosting a ‘conference to save India’s composite culture’ in New Delhi on August 17. Several top Opposition leaders, including Communist Party of India (Marxist) chief Sitaram Yechury and Congress’s Mallikarjun Kharge, and others, are slated to attend the conference.
Yadav’s lieutenant and Rajya Sabha member Ali Anwar is also slated to attend the meeting of Opposition parties called by Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Friday in Delhi.
West Bengal chief minister ( CM) Mamata Banerjee, who landed in Delhi on Thursday and met President Ram Nath Kovind, is also slated to attend. Bihar CM Kumar will be in Delhi on Friday to attend the oath taking ceremony of Vice Presidentelect M Venkaiah Naidu. The JD(U) had claimed its MPs voted for Opposition vicepresidential candidate Gopalkrishna Gandhi. Kumar is also slated to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi, his first meeting with the PM after he quit the ‘grand alliance’ and aligned with the BJP.
Yadav landed in Patna on a three-day tour during which he plans to hold “direct dialogue” with people over the breaking of the ‘grand alliance’ that had comprised the JD (U), RJD and Congress.