JD(U) suspends 21 Sharad Yadav loyalists

The Janata Dal (United) in Bihar seems to be headed for a split with the suspension of 21 leaders loyal to former party President Sharad Yadav who has publicly condemned Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s decision to quit his alliance from Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Congress to join hands with the BJP.

The move comes after Sharad Yadav, whose tenure in the Rajya Sabha extends till 2022, was suspended for his opposition to Nitish joining the BJP.

Yadav was the leader of the JD(U) in Rajya Sabha and that position has now been allocated to another MP RCP Singh.

Nitish Kumar, who is JD(U) President now, had also suspended another Rajya Sabha MP Ali Anwar for siding with Sharad Yadav. But suspensions do not affect these MPs’ tenure unless they quit the JD(U) on their own.

Since then, Sharad Yadav has been openly supporting the Opposition — hailing the election of INC’s Ahmed Patel to the Rajya Sabha from Gujarat — where a JD(U) MLA Chotubhai Vasava reportedly backed Patel against the party’s official decision to support the BJP.

To further cleanse JD(U) of Sharad Yadav’s influence, “anti-party activities” were cited as reason for suspending top leaders, including former minister Ramai Ram, ex-MP from Sheohar Arjun Rai, former MLA Raj Kishore Sinha and ex-MLC Vijay Varma, according to a statement issued by JD(U) State General Secretary Anil Kumar.

Besides, a few district level office bearers of the party have also been suspended. Ramai Ram and Arjun Rai were prominent faces who participated in Sharad Yadav’s three-day ‘Samvad Yatra’ which ended on August 12.

Yadav — who described the party decision to walk out of the Grand Alliance of RJD, JD(U) and Congress and join hands with the BJP as “betrayal” of mandate given by 11 crore people of Bihar — has already been removed as the JD(U) parliamentary party leader in the Rajya Sabha.

Talking to Business Line in Delhi, Sharad Yadav said he has rejected offers of joining the Union Cabinet with the BJP and gone back to the people because they had given a mandate for the Mahagathbandhan which has been betrayed by Nitish Kumar.

“I have rejected allurements of Cabinet posts and gone back to the people. I have just travelled through Bihar and received enormous support. My fight is not with an individual but against politics that seeks to divide the country,” Yadav said.

He said he has called a meeting in Patna on August 17 under the banner of “sanjhi viarasat (common heritage)” for which leaders of various opposition parties have been invited.

“At this juncture in my life, my endeavour is to fight forces that pose a danger to the secular fabric of the country. People of Bihar gave us support for this and we had a manifesto different from the BJP. We fought the BJP. How can we abandon our manifesto and join hands with those we fought in the elections?” Yadav asked.

Despite the JD(U) distancing itself from the recent tour of Sharad Yadav to the State, these 21 leaders and district level office bearers were seen with him during the trip which he had said was meant to have “direct dialogue” with the people.

Ramai Ram had told mediapersons after State JD(U) executive committee meeting early in July, that four days had been given to former Deputy Chief Minister Tejaswi Yadav to come clean on accusations.

Nitish Kumar, who is JD(U) President, has called a meeting of party national executive in Patna on August 19 which is likely to decide Yadav’s fate in the party.