Sharad Yadav’s Loktantrik Janata Dal unlikely to join JD(U), wants to work for GA
The national office bearers of the party met in New Delhi on Sunday and called the rumours of the party switching sides “totally false and baseless”.
Putting to rest all speculation, Sharad Yadav-led Loktantrik Janata Dal on Sunday ruled out the possibility of the party joining the JD(U).
The national office bearers of the party met in New Delhi on Sunday and called the rumours of the party switching sides “totally false and baseless”.
The meeting was not attended by Yadav, who is hospitalized.
“LJD wishes to clarify that Sharad Yadav has always been a part of the JD (U) which played a key role in bringing Mahagathbandhan (Grand Alliance) to power in the 2015 Bihar assembly elections and continues to work with the people of Bihar to bring GA to power again in the upcoming assembly elections. LJD expresses its solidarity with the GA,” said a statement issued by party’s general secretary Sushila Morale.
What triggered the speculation of his possible return to the JD(U) camp was a courtesy call by Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar to the family of former JD(U) president Sharad Yadav to enquire about his health. During the course of his illness, several JD(U) leaders also contacted him and enquired about his health. According to Yadav’s party sources, the LJD leader, like other Grand Alliance partners, was feeling neglected in the alliance. Only recently, HAM-S, one of the GA partners, exited from the alliance.
Yadav formed LJD after he was expelled from the JD(U) for his anti-party activities in August 2017. He contested the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from Madhepura as a Grand Alliance candidate and lost the elections.
The JD(U) had removed Yadav as the party’s leader in the Rajya Sabha in 2017 after he publicly disapproved of Nitish Kumar’s decision to re-join the NDA in Bihar. He was subsequently disqualified from the upper house on a petition filed by the JD(U). Yadav, whose Rajya Sabha tenure ends in 2022, challenged the decision in court. The matter is still sub-judice.