The Nitish Kumar-led JD(U) would be more than happy to watch its past president Sharad Yadav rubbing shoulders with RJD supremo lalu Prasad here on August 27. lalu has called “BJP bhagao, Bharat bachao” yatra at Gandhi Maidan, where he has invited leaders of all the non-BJP parties and Sharad is expected to attend the rally.
His participation in the RJD rally might lead to his disqualification from the Rajya Sabha and the JD(U) leadership wants that its senior most leader should be ousted from Parliament since the party is not in favour of his expulsion from JD(U). Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said he did not want to make any comment on Sharad and he was free to take a decision.
The party is in process of approaching the Chairman of Rajya Sabha for the disqualification of Sharad after Sunday, if he attends the RJD rally, to urge Venkaiah Naidu for invoking provisions of the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution for disqualification of a member on the ground of defection.
The JD(U) sources said that Clause 2(a) of the Tenth Schedule has provision for disqualification of a Member of legislative body if he indulge in anti party activities outside the legislature. The sources recalled that in 2008 then Chairman Hamid Ansari had disqualified Jai Narain Nishad on the plea of the BJP that he shared stage with lalu Prasad and to prove its charge the party presented a photograph.
The RJD is confident that Sharad will join the August 27 rally and would address it. lalu has plans to make a fresh bid for the unity of Opposition to counter NDA in 2019 and sources said Sharad wants a key role for himself in this move. lalu would have no problem in projecting Sharad as he himself is not fit to lead any political campaign due to his conviction by the court. Sharad might also be eying to return to the Rajya Sabha once being disqualified by RJD support. The RJD witgh the support of Congress would have enough strength to win two Rajya Sabha seats.
However, lalu received a jolt in his efforts when BSP supremo Mayawati refused to attend his rally frustrating the opposition unity bid as she is averse to share platform with Samajwadi Party. The RJD boss was quite hopeful of her presence and to appease her had offered to send her to the Rajya Sabha from Bihar after she resigned her seat last month.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had earlier committed to attend the rally but it was not clear what stand she would take. The RJD rally had been called when the party was sharing power with JD(U) but after July 26, when Nitish detached himself from the Mahagathbandhan, the stand of various parties was still unclear.