Nitish indulged in anti-party activity, not me: Sharad

NEW DELHI:A day after the Election Commission refused to take cognizance of his faction’s plea that they are the “real JD-U” and they should be assigned the party’s official election symbol, estranged party leader Sharad Yadav today defended his decision to attend an RJD rally in Patna on August 27, claiming it was “not he who broke the party line” rather the group led by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar did “by ditching Mahagathbandhan”, which went to polls and sought people’s support.

Mukesh Ranjan

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 13

A day after the Election Commission refused to take cognizance of his faction’s plea that they are the “real JD-U” and they should be assigned the party’s official election symbol, estranged party leader Sharad Yadav today defended his decision to attend an RJD rally in Patna on August 27, claiming it was “not he who broke the party line” rather the group led by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar did “by ditching Mahagathbandhan”, which went to polls and sought people’s support.

Speaking at a press conference convened by his at his residence here, Yadav said: “I am being targeted on the pretext that I attended the Patna rally. They (the Nitish camp) are trying to question my membership to Rajya Sabha under Schedule 10 of Constitution that I gave it up voluntarily.”

The socialist leader went on to add: “But I was correct in following the decision of the party while forming the Mahagathbandhan and have now been abiding by the mandate given by 11 crore people of Bihar. As a loyal party worker, I followed the decision of the party and attended the rally.”

However, on if he had responded to the notice served on him by the Rajya Sabha secretariat on the petition filed by the Nitish faction, Yadav ducked the question, saying: “It will be responded and my lawyers are looking into it.”

On the EC rejecting their contention, a senior leader of the Sharad camp said the decision was “one-sided, as we were not given a hearing by the poll panel”. He said: “Our lawyers are looking into the matter and soon we will approach the Commission again.” Meanwhile, the Sharad faction has decided to hold the JD-U’s national council meet on October 8.

Must join lalu to survive in politics: JD-U

Nitish Kumar-led JD-U on Wednesday took a swipe at party dissident Sharad Yadav (pic), advising him to join Lalu Prasad’s RJD while calling him their ‘uncle’
“For his survival in politics, Sharadji should join the RJD as he has been left no other option now. Sharadji has tried to unite the Opposition with the RJD whose boss Lalu and his family are knee-deep in corruption. Although he has ‘voluntarily’ given up his JD-U membership after attending RJD-led anti-BJP rally, he may now lose RS membership,” said JD-U’s Neeraj Kumar