21 JD(U) leaders close to Sharad suspended
Sharad Yadav (Source: PTI/Manvender Vashist) Sharad Yadav (Source: PTI/Manvender Vashist)
The Nitish Kumar-led JD(U) on Monday suspended 21 party leaders and office bearers perceived to be close to Sharad Yadav for anti-party activities, the fourth such action within a week. The move is being seen as JD(U)’s warning to Sharad Yadav that the leader would be “of no use for the party” if he attended the August 27 rally of Lalu Prasad’s RJD in Patna.
Repeatedly raising questions over his “growing proximity” with RJD chief Lalu, JD(U) general secretary K C Tyagi dismissed the rebellion by Sharad and asserted that there is “no split in the JD(U)” as “over 90 per cent, MPs, state units and officer bearers are with Nitish Kumar”.
Back in the national capital after a three-day Jan Samvad programme in Patna, Sharad, who came down heavily on Nitish for his decision to align with the BJP, was unfazed. He met his supporters to finalise the August 17 conference on Saanjhi Virasat (shared legacy), which will be attended by senior leaders from main Opposition party. The event is expected to be an occasion when Opposition parties will train guns at the BJP, which the Nitish-led JD(U) aligned itself to last month.
Sources said that if Sharad attends the August 27 BJP Bhagao Desh Bachao rally in Patna, it will lead to his suspension. Earlier, the party had suspended Rajya Sabha MP Ali Anwar Ansari and a party general secretary Arun Srivastava, besides removing Sharad from the post of Leader of House in the Rajya Sabha. “A Sharad Yadav who shares the dais with Lalu Prasad and attends an RJD rally despite corruption charges against the RJD (leader’s family) is of no use for us. After attending the rally of the corruptest of the corrupt, he is not fit to be in the JD(U),” Tyagi said.
When asked whether Sharad Yadav could face suspension, Tyagi said that the actions he is taking leads to the same direction and insisted that former has already voluntarily quit the party. “When he (Sharad) is not attending any JD(U)-sponsored programme and is attending RJD-sponsored programmes, it is clear he has quit the party. The August 17 event being organised by Sharadji is not a party programme but he is indicating he will not attend the August 19 national executive meeting,” Tyagi said.
Tyagi spoke of the time when Sharad had broken away from the party headed by Lalu. “Sharad Yadav and George Fernandes are best faces of socialism… but he is not the same person now and is supporting the corrupt,” Tyagi said. He rejected contentions of a split in the party. Reeling out figures, he said 9 of 12 MPs (10 in the Rajya Sabha and two in the Lok Sabha) are with Nitish Kumar. Tyagi also claimed that Kerala M P Veerendra Kumar told him he was neither with Nitish or Sharad and will resign from Rajya Sabha soon and will part ways from UDF and join LDF.
“So the only MP with Sharad Yadav is Ali Anwar Ansari, whose Rajya Sabha term ends in March-April next year. Of the 10 general secretaries, only three are with Sharad and of six secretaries only one. So how can it be called a split when more than 90 per cent leaders are with Nitish,” Tyagi said.
Those suspended by Bihar JD(U) chief Bashishta Narain Singh for anti-party activities on Monday include former MP Arjun Rai, former MLA Rajkishore Sinha and some former district presidents and block presidents and some office bearers from Sharad Yadav’s Lok Sabha seat Madhepura. Tyagi claimed that if elections are held today in Bihar, the NDA-JD(U) combine will sweep the state.
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