JD(U)'s Sharad Yadav breaks silence on Nitish Kumar's decision, says it's against Bihar people's mandate

JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav finally broke his silence on JD(U)’s tie-up with the BJP in Bihar on Monday describing it as “unfortunate” and said he did not agree with the decision taken by Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar. “I don’t agree with the decision in Bihar. It is unfortunate,” Sharad told reporters outside the Parliament. “The mandate of the people (in Bihar in 2015) was not for this,” the Rajya Sabha member said on Nitish’s decision to end the two-year Mahagathbandhan between the JD(U), and RJD and the Congress in the state. He had so far only tweeted his criticism of the BJP-led central government.

After the unexpected break-up, Nitish aligned again with the Bharatiya Janata Party and formed a coalition government on 27 July. [caption id=“attachment_3864511” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Sharad Yadav. PTI[/caption] The decision had apparently upset Sharad, a former president of the JD(U) who reportedly complained to party colleagues that Nitish did not consult him before deciding to embrace BJP. Nitish and finance minister Arun Jaitley reportedly spoke to Yadav and tried to pacify the senior leader. This is not the first time a JD(U) member had expressed their reservations after Nitish broke the grand alliance with RJD and Congress.  Previously , JD(U) MP Ali Anwar was the first party member to disagree with Nitish’s decision and refused to join the BJP. “Nitish_ji_ has taken the decision of going with BJP because his conscience allowed him. Mine does not. My conscience does not allow me to support his move,” he said. Meanwhile, according to  The Hindu , Lalu Prasad Yadav had “two rounds of talks” with Sharad, asking him to join the RJD. NDTV reported that Lalu claimed that the 70-year-old party veteran had called him and expressed his disapproval of joining the BJP. “I appeal to Sharad Yadav-ji who has been our leader… whom we consider our leader, to come forward and fight the BJP. Take the lead role in this,” Lalu said. Nitish had resigned as the chief minister on 26 July, dumping grand alliance partners Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Congress. He again took oath as the chief minister with the support of the National Democratic Alliance on Thursday along with senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi who swore in as the deputy chief minister. Nitish went on to win the floor test in Bihar Assembly the next day with a majority of 131-108. With inputs from agencies