Not taking action against Sharad Yadav as he is 'senior': JD (U)

New Delhi [India], Aug 19 (ANI): The Janata Dal (United) on Saturday snubbed reports of a rift in the party saying that all the leaders of the party are strongly in support of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

"All 71 MLAs and 30MLCs, 16 of 19 office bearers are with us. There is no split as such in JD (U), we have overwhelming majority," party leader K.C. Tyagi told the reporters here.

Touching upon the touchy topic of Sharad Yadav, Tyagi opined that if the rebel leader had a disagreement over the decision of Nitish Kumar, then he could have just raised the matter in the meeting, rather than holding rallies across Bihar with Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD).

"We even invited him today, to raise the issue and hold discussion on the same. But rather than coming here, he is holding meeting with the people of RJD. Sharad Yadav is doing anti-party activities, but we did not take any action against him because of his seniority," he said.

Tyagi further said that everyone in the party came to this conclusion that it was becoming difficult to work with the RJD, as they were framed with corruption charges as well, that is why they withdrew from the Grand Alliance.

"It was important to remove Sharad Yadav from the Legislature party Leader as he was becoming a hindrance in day-to-day functioning. We are not angry but hurt that he will share the dais with the one against whom so many corruption charges are framed," Tyagi said.

Further stressing on the same Tyagi said that with Nitish, Sharad had a different stature, but on August 27th all his ideals will be buried when he will embraces Lalu.

He also asserted that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Amit Shah had asked them to join the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) at the Centre and said that the party has passed the resolution to and are now a part of it from today.

Sharad Yadav was sacked as JD(U)'s Rajya Sabha leader when he made his chagrin against Nitish Kumar snapping ties with the Lalu Yadav-led RJD and forging an alliance with the BJP, to form the next government in Bihar, quite evident.

Yadav also asserted that Nitish's flip-flop, as far as his views on the BJP were concerned, was an insult to the 2015 mandate of the people given to the "Mahagathbandhan" and that he was still a part of the grand alliance in the state.

In the aftermath, the Nitish-led JD(U) even suspended 21 party leaders for participating in Yadav's recent three-day Jan Samwad Yatra, wherein he interacted with the people of the state, indicative of a widening rift in the party.

Lalu Yadav had also come out in support of Sharad Yadav, leading up to the Nitish faction, reportedly, warning the latter that if he attended the August 27 "Desh Bachao, BJP Bhagao" rally of the former, he would be sacked from the party.

Meanwhile, today, Nitish chaired the national executive meeting of the party, while Sharad Yadav held a parallel convention in the state under the title 'Jan Adalat'. (ANI)

This story has not been edited. It has been published as provided by ANI