Sharad Yadav axed as JD-U leader in Rajya Sabha

New Delhi: The Janata Dal(United) on Saturday replaced senior leader and former party president Sharad Yadav as the party’s leader in Rajya Sabha for being open and vocal about his opposition to the party’s decision to ally with the BJP in Bihar. 

He has been replaced with Ramchandra Prasad Singh as the party’s leader in the Upper House.

Confirming the move to a news agency, Bihar party president Bashistha Narain Singh said Mr Yadav’s removal was important due to his recent “anti-party activities”.

The move comes on a day when BJP party chief Amit Shah said that he has invited JD(U) chief Nitish Kumar to join the NDA at the Centre.

On Saturday, JD(U) MPs met Rajya Sabha chairman M. Venkaiah Naidu to hand him a letter appointing Mr Singh as the leader of the JD(U) in the Upper House.

Mr Singh is a trusted lieutenant of Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar. The JD(U) has 10 members in the Rajya Sabha. Mr Yadav, who is on a tour of Bihar, said he is still a part of the Grand Alliance with the RJD and the Congress.

“JD(U) sirf Nitish Kumar ki hi party nahi hai, yeh meri bhi party hai (The JD-U is not just Nitish Kumar’s party, but also my party),” Mr Yadav said in Bihar’s Madhepura district on the last day of his three-day Samvad Yatra. 

Mr Yadav also claimed that the real JD(U) was with him and the one with Mr Kumar was the “sarkari” JD(U).

“There are two JD-Us in Bihar, one is sarkari (official) and another is janata (of the people). All the party legislators, leaders, who are close to the government for personal benefit are with Nitish Kumar, but leaders and workers close to the people are with me,” Mr Yadav said. 

On Friday night the JD(U) had suspended its Rajya Sabha member Ali Anwar Ansari from the parliamentary party for attending a meeting of Opposition parties convened by Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

Differences between Mr Kumar and Mr Yadav surfaced after the former snapped ties with the Congress and the RJD, and allied with the BJP to form a new government in Bihar last month. Meanwhile, in a related development, BJP president Amit Shah said in a tweet on Saturday that he had invited Mr Kumar to join the ruling NDA.

Mr Shah said that in a meeting with Mr Kumar at his residence in New Delhi on Friday, he had invited him to join the ruling government. “Met JD(U) national president Nitish Kumar yesterday at his residence. I invited him to include JD(U) in the NDA fold,” Mr Shah tweeted.

Sharad Yadav is currently touring Bihar with the people of Bihar to gauge their reactions to the “betrayal of mandate for Grand Alliance”.