Although senior Janata Dal United leader, Sharad Yadav did not say a word about Bihar chief minister, Nitish Kumar’s striking move to end the grand alliance and join hands with the BJP, there was speculation that the 70-year-old leader wasn’t happy with the recent developments.
Yadav, the co-founder of the party has maintained a stone cold silence. But, Lalu Yadav confirmed where the veteran JDU leader stood on Nitish’s move. “Yes, he (Sharad Yadav) called me,” said Lalu Yadav in an interview to NDTV.
“He has been in touch and he told us he is with us,” Lalu Yadav, the Rashtriya Janata Dal chief said. His remark came hours after Nitish comfortably won the floor test in the Bihar assembly after a short debate.
Sharad Yadav had been Nitish Kumar’s stand at two recent meetings of opposition front. At these meetings, he went ahead to assure opposition about his party’s firm commitment to fight the BJP and PM Modi.
Lalu confirmed that political strategist Prashant Kishor who had worked closely with them had also called him. “He was innocent of the ways of Nitish Kumar. He also called to tell me that Nitish wasn’t doing the right thing,” he said. However, Kishor said his first suspicion about Kumar’s intentions arose when he kept on putting off a request to send across his photograph for campaign material for an anti-BJP rally on 27 August.
“I would call Nitish daily… about posters and the photos and campaign material but he would keep putting me off,” he said. “I knew that he was up to something.”
