LJD denies reports of Sharad Yadav joining hands with JD(U), vows leader will bring Opposition alliance to power

New Delhi: The Loktantrik Janata Dal (LJD) said on Sunday that its patron Sharad Yadav will work to bring the opposition alliance to power in Bihar, as it rejected speculation about him joining hands with JD(U) president and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. In a statement, the LJD vowed to strive hard to bring “more cohesion among the secular forces” in the upcoming assembly elections in Bihar and other constituencies where by-elections are yet to be announced, and hit out at the central government over its “anti-farmers” policies. Voting for Bihar assembly elections will be held in three phases on 28 October, 3 November and 7 November in one of the biggest elections globally during the COVID-19 pandemic, followed by counting of votes on 10 November, the Election Commission had announced. The party’s office bearers held a meeting in which they also paid homage to singer SP Balasubrahmanyam and former Union minister Jaswant Singh. Yadav, who is ill, is the party’s patron. The LJD in the statement claimed that there have been rumours that Yadav may join the JD(U) and rejected them as “totally false and baseless”. With the country in “deep economic distress” and urban India hit hard by COVID-19, the LJD strongly condemns the government’s “anti-farmer policies” and views them as a serious assault on the potential of the rural economy to put the country back on track to progress, the statement said, in an apparent reference to the farm bills brought by the Centre.