All eyes are on Bihar as the political equations of the state are changing every day. After Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar took the decision of breaking the grand alliance with RJD–Congress and forming a new government in alliance with BJP, a rift has been created in the political scenario of the state.
Sharad Yadav former chief of JD(U) and one of the founding member of the party felt cheated on Kumar’s decision as he was kept behind the doors. He rebelled against the decision of Nitish and said that he is still with the mahagathbandhan which was formed for five years with the mandate of the people. Even RJD Chief Lalu Prasad Yadav announced that his party will stand by and extend their support to Sharad-led JD(U). With the prevailing situations, two sections seem to be have been formed in the party, with one led by Nitish Kumar and the other led by Sharad Yadav.
Both the factions have declared a cold war against each other and are trying to pull the other down by all means. Sharad had organised a meeting in Delhi on Thursday naming it the initiative to save India’s composite culture, which was attended by 14 opposition party. The main agenda of the meeting was to field a united opposition against the BJP-led NDA government and to discuss the future steps to be taken by Sharad and prepare a tough competition for BJP in the upcoming general elections due in 2019.
During the meeting, Congress leader Ahmed Patel gave a suggestion to come out with an action plan to take forward the theme of protecting India’s composite culture. Following his suggestion, senior opposition leaders including Ahmed Patel, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Sitaram Yechuri and Yadav are learnt to have held talks over the weekend to constitute the joint committee. This committee will comprise of representatives from all 14 parties that were present at the meeting and Yadav will be its convenor.
Meanwhile, Nitish-led JD(U) has threatened to take away Sharad Yadav’s parliamentary seat after replacing him as the party parliamentary head. The party has cleared the point that if Sharad Yadav will cross the red line by attending the grand rally scheduled to be organised by RJD-chief Lalu Prasad Yadav on 27 Aug, strict actions will be taken against the rebel leader.
The Yadav camp held a parallel conference in Patna on Saturday around the same time when the CM addressed a JDU executive meeting, which formally decided that the party would join the NDA. The Sharad-led group is also planning to file a petition with the Election Commission, to stake a claim for the JDU symbol by arguing that the party was originally founded by Yadav and his colleagues.
Another rebel JD(U) member Ali Anwar who was recently expelled from the party for representing Yadav in the opposition-held by Congress high command Sonia Gandhi also criticised the threat of unseating the veteran leader from the upper house. He said that “Nitish ji obviously thinks since he is in the company of the BJP and RSS, he can threaten all of us. But, we suggest instead of wasting his time in threatening us, the CM focus on doing at least something for the lakhs of people affected by the floods in Bihar and have been left to languish both by the central and the Bihar governments.”