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Bihar brouhaha: Sharad Yadav breaks silence, calls Nitish’s power-swap “unfortunate”, betrayal of mandate

Published

9 years ago

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Sharad Yadav

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Former Janata Dal (United) chief has been sulking ever since Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar broke the Mahagathbandhan last week and chose to ally with BJP to return to office within four hours of his ‘conscience call’

Emerging from his five-day-long ‘political hibernation’, former Janata Dal (United) chief and the party’s seniormost Rajya Sabha member, Sharad Yadav, finally broke his silence on Monday over Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar’s decision to purge his own Mahagathbandhan government last Thursday and then be sworn-in to office within 16 hours with the BJP as his ally.

Yadav confirmed speculations that he was not happy with Kumar’s decision to resign as chief minister of the 20-month-old JD (U)-RJD-Congress Mahagathbandhan government and stopped just shy of terming as blatant betrayal his decision to take the BJP’s support to return as the state’s top executive last Friday.

Speaking to mediapersons outside the Parliament on Monday, a visibly upset Yadav said: “Whatever happened is very unfortunate. The mandate by the people was not for this.”

Yadav had gone into a studied silence the moment Nitish Kumar announced his resignation last Thursday evening – a move that had left his alliance partners, RJD chief Lalu Yadav, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi and other leaders stunned. It is widely believed that Kumar had not kept Sharad Yadav in the loop on his surprise move, putting him in an embarrassing position at a time when for Rajya Sabha MP was at the forefront of the Opposition’s effort to corner the Narendra Modi-led BJP government both inside and outside the Parliament.

RJD chief Lalu Yadav had earlier indicated that Sharad was sulking over Kumar’s decision. “He (Sharad) had called me after the trust vote on Friday and said that he wasn’t happy about what was happening… he even urged me to carry on my fight,” Lalu had told mediapersons, adding that he replied to the former JD (U) chief saying he should “join us and lead our fight against the BJP and its allies”.

Sharad’s silence in the days following Kumar’s high political drama was being attributed to two things. First, there were clear attempts by senior JD (U) leaders as well as the BJP to keep Sharad from speaking out against the Bihar chief minister and the grapevine was abuzz with speculation that he might be offered a key portfolio in the Narendra Modi government since his party could now join the NDA at the Centre too. Sharad’s meeting with union finance minister Arun Jaitley on Friday had further strengthened this rumour. Second, those who know Sharad well claim that he was weighing his options and didn’t want to openly confront Kumar, or resign from the JD (U), as this would mean that he would also lose his Rajya Sabha membership which still has three more years before it ends.

Sources say that Sharad’s hope of getting a hefty portfolio in the Narendra Modi cabinet didn’t meet a favourable response – possibly because of his recent attacks on the Prime Minister during interventions in the Rajya Sabha and also his frosty relations with Kumar.

The wily politician that he is, Yadav seems to have – for now – decided to stay within the JD (U) and act as the party’s internal voice of dissent at least till a time when he is either won over by Kumar or can break away and join some other party or form his own. Doing so would give Sharad at least some bargaining power, which he currently does not have since he is neither a leader with a mass base nor one who has a significant hold over the JD (U) legislators in the Bihar assembly.

Sharad’s open disapproval of Kumar’s power swap, which the chief minister had termed as a result of a call of conscience which was unsettled about him sharing political space with a ‘corrupt’ Tejashwai Yadav as his deputy, comes after the veteran socialist leader took to Twitter to criticise the Modi government on a range of issues.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_raw_html]JTNDYmxvY2txdW90ZSUyMGNsYXNzJTNEJTIydHdpdHRlci10d2VldCUyMiUyMGRhdGEtbGFuZyUzRCUyMmVuJTIyJTNFJTNDcCUyMGxhbmclM0QlMjJlbiUyMiUyMGRpciUzRCUyMmx0ciUyMiUzRU5laXRoZXIlMjBibGFjayUyMG1vbmV5JTIwc2xhc2hlZCUyMGFicm9hZCUyMHJldHVybmVkJTJDJTIwb25lJTIwb2YlMjBkJTIwbWFpbiUyMHNsb2dhbnMlMjBvZiUyMGQlMjBydWxpbmclMjBwYXJ0eSUyMG5vciUyMGFueW9uZSUyMGNhdWdodCUyMG91dCUyMG9mJTIwdGhvc2UlMjBuYW1lZCUyMGluJTIwUGFuYW1hJTIwcGFwZXJzLiUzQyUyRnAlM0UlMjZtZGFzaCUzQiUyMFNIQVJBRCUyMFlBREFWJTIwJTI4JTQwU2hhcmFkWWFkYXZNUCUyOSUyMCUzQ2ElMjBocmVmJTNEJTIyaHR0cHMlM0ElMkYlMkZ0d2l0dGVyLmNvbSUyRlNoYXJhZFlhZGF2TVAlMkZzdGF0dXMlMkY4OTE1MDMyODUxNDc4MDM2NDglMjIlM0VKdWx5JTIwMzAlMkMlMjAyMDE3JTNDJTJGYSUzRSUzQyUyRmJsb2NrcXVvdGUlM0UlMEElM0NzY3JpcHQlMjBhc3luYyUyMHNyYyUzRCUyMiUyRiUyRnBsYXRmb3JtLnR3aXR0ZXIuY29tJTJGd2lkZ2V0cy5qcyUyMiUyMGNoYXJzZXQlM0QlMjJ1dGYtOCUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRnNjcmlwdCUzRSUwQSUyMCUwQSUzQ2Jsb2NrcXVvdGUlMjBjbGFzcyUzRCUyMnR3aXR0ZXItdHdlZXQlMjIlMjBkYXRhLWxhbmclM0QlMjJlbiUyMiUzRSUzQ3AlMjBsYW5nJTNEJTIyZW4lMjIlMjBkaXIlM0QlMjJsdHIlMjIlM0VBbHRob3VnaCUyMEdvdnQlMjBjb2xsZWN0cyUyMG51bWJlciUyMG9mJTIwY2Vzc2VzJTIwaW4lMjBkJTIwbmFtZSUyMG9mJTIwZGlmZmVyZW50JTIwc2VydmljZXMlMjBmcm9tJTIwcHVibGljJTJDJTIweWV0JTIwZG9uJTI2JTIzMzklM0J0JTIwc2VlJTIwYW55JTIwaW1wcm92ZW1lbnQlMjBpbiUyMGFueSUyMGFyZWElMjBpbiUyMGQlMjBjb3VudHJ5LiUzQyUyRnAlM0UlMjZtZGFzaCUzQiUyMFNIQVJBRCUyMFlBREFWJTIwJTI4JTQwU2hhcmFkWWFkYXZNUCUyOSUyMCUzQ2ElMjBocmVmJTNEJTIyaHR0cHMlM0ElMkYlMkZ0d2l0dGVyLmNvbSUyRlNoYXJhZFlhZGF2TVAlMkZzdGF0dXMlMkY4OTExNDM4Mzk3Mzc1NjUxODQlMjIlM0VKdWx5JTIwMjklMkMlMjAyMDE3JTNDJTJGYSUzRSUzQyUyRmJsb2NrcXVvdGUlM0UlMEElM0NzY3JpcHQlMjBhc3luYyUyMHNyYyUzRCUyMiUyRiUyRnBsYXRmb3JtLnR3aXR0ZXIuY29tJTJGd2lkZ2V0cy5qcyUyMiUyMGNoYXJzZXQlM0QlMjJ1dGYtOCUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRnNjcmlwdCUzRSUwQSUyMCUwQSUzQ2Jsb2NrcXVvdGUlMjBjbGFzcyUzRCUyMnR3aXR0ZXItdHdlZXQlMjIlMjBkYXRhLWxhbmclM0QlMjJlbiUyMiUzRSUzQ3AlMjBsYW5nJTNEJTIyZW4lMjIlMjBkaXIlM0QlMjJsdHIlMjIlM0VVbHRpbWF0ZWx5JTIwb3VyJTIwUFNVcyUyMGFyZSUyMHVzZWQlMjBmb3IlMjBhbnklMjBzb2NpYWwlMjBjYXVzZSUyMGxpa2UlMjBHb3Z0JTIwcGxhbnMlMjB0byUyMHJlc2N1ZSUyMHN0cmFuZGVkJTIwYXNzZXRzJTIwaW4lMjBwb3dlciUyMHNlY3RvciUyMGJ1dCUyMFBTVXMlMjBkaXNpbnZlc3RlZCUyMGhlYXJ0bGVzc2x5JTNDJTJGcCUzRSUyNm1kYXNoJTNCJTIwU0hBUkFEJTIwWUFEQVYlMjAlMjglNDBTaGFyYWRZYWRhdk1QJTI5JTIwJTNDYSUyMGhyZWYlM0QlMjJodHRwcyUzQSUyRiUyRnR3aXR0ZXIuY29tJTJGU2hhcmFkWWFkYXZNUCUyRnN0YXR1cyUyRjg5MDc3OTM2NTUyODU3NjAwMCUyMiUzRUp1bHklMjAyOCUyQyUyMDIwMTclM0MlMkZhJTNFJTNDJTJGYmxvY2txdW90ZSUzRSUwQSUzQ3NjcmlwdCUyMGFzeW5jJTIwc3JjJTNEJTIyJTJGJTJGcGxhdGZvcm0udHdpdHRlci5jb20lMkZ3aWRnZXRzLmpzJTIyJTIwY2hhcnNldCUzRCUyMnV0Zi04JTIyJTNFJTNDJTJGc2NyaXB0JTNFJTBBJTIwJTBBJTNDYmxvY2txdW90ZSUyMGNsYXNzJTNEJTIydHdpdHRlci10d2VldCUyMiUyMGRhdGEtbGFuZyUzRCUyMmVuJTIyJTNFJTNDcCUyMGxhbmclM0QlMjJlbiUyMiUyMGRpciUzRCUyMmx0ciUyMiUzRUFtb25nc3QlMjBvdGhlcnMlMjBGYXNhbCUyMEJpbWElMjBZb2phbmElMjBpcyUyMGFub3RoZXIlMjB1bnN1Y2Nlc3NmdWwlMjBzY2hlbWUlMjBvZiUyMGQlMjBHb3Z0JTIwdGhyb3VnaCUyMHdoaWNoJTIwb25seSUyMHByaXZhdGUlMjBpbnN1cmFuY2UlMjBjb21wYW5pZXMlMjBiZWluZyUyMGJlbmVmaXR0ZWQuJTNDJTJGcCUzRSUyNm1kYXNoJTNCJTIwU0hBUkFEJTIwWUFEQVYlMjAlMjglNDBTaGFyYWRZYWRhdk1QJTI5JTIwJTNDYSUyMGhyZWYlM0QlMjJodHRwcyUzQSUyRiUyRnR3aXR0ZXIuY29tJTJGU2hhcmFkWWFkYXZNUCUyRnN0YXR1cyUyRjg5MDQwMjMzOTU3OTc2NDczNiUyMiUzRUp1bHklMjAyNyUyQyUyMDIwMTclM0MlMkZhJTNFJTNDJTJGYmxvY2txdW90ZSUzRSUwQSUzQ3NjcmlwdCUyMGFzeW5jJTIwc3JjJTNEJTIyJTJGJTJGcGxhdGZvcm0udHdpdHRlci5jb20lMkZ3aWRnZXRzLmpzJTIyJTIwY2hhcnNldCUzRCUyMnV0Zi04JTIyJTNFJTNDJTJGc2NyaXB0JTNFJTBB[/vc_raw_html][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]It now remains to be seen whether Sharad, in days to come, would be favourably disposed to once friend-then rival-and friend again Lalu Yadav’s appeal to part ways with the JD (U) and stick with the Opposition in its fight against the BJP.

“Nitish has tarnished the image of Ambedkar. I urge Sharad Yadav, whom we consider as a true leader, to travel to every corner of the country and come to Bihar and join our fight against the BJP and Nitish Kumar,” Lalu has said repeatedly since Thursday.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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Abhishek Banerjee says will not bow to BJP after nearly 11 hours of ED questioning

After spending nearly 11 hours before the Enforcement Directorate, TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee said he would not bow to the BJP and accused the ruling party of using investigative agencies for political purposes.

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Trinamool Congress leader and Diamond Harbour MP Abhishek Banerjee on Tuesday said he would not bow to the BJP after spending nearly 11 hours being questioned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with an ongoing investigation.

Speaking after the questioning, Banerjee alleged that central agencies were being used to target opposition leaders and asserted that he would continue his political fight despite what he described as sustained pressure.

The TMC leader has repeatedly maintained that investigations involving him are politically motivated, a charge he has made on several previous occasions while appearing before central agencies.

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DMK attacks Rahul Gandhi, accuses him of weakening opposition unity

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DMK questions Rahul Gandhi’s remarks on opposition unity

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The editorial also referred to past political disputes involving Congress and Left parties, particularly in Kerala, claiming such episodes had raised concerns among opposition allies about Congress’s approach toward its partners.

Tamil Nadu political fallout adds to tensions

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The DMK has alleged that Congress benefited from the alliance during the election and later abandoned its partner. The party’s editorial questioned whether assurances from Congress leadership would be trusted by alliance partners after the developments in Tamil Nadu.

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Congress, SP send mixed signals on AIMIM’s role ahead of 2027 Uttar Pradesh polls

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The discussion gained momentum after AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi launched his party’s campaign preparations for the 2027 elections from Bahraich and reiterated that his party is open to alliances, provided it is treated with respect and as an equal partner.

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With more than a year remaining before the 2027 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, political equations are expected to evolve as parties finalise their strategies and alliance plans.

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