The split in the Janata Dal(U) is turning wide open, fasttracked by senior JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav who is set to present his faction as the ‘real’ party following party President Nitish Kumar's decision to remove him as the leader of JD(U) in the Rajya Sabha.
Yadav is claiming that many of its State units are with him while the support for Kumar is confined to Bihar.
Yadav, who has openly disapproved of Kumar's alliance with the BJP in Bihar, was on Saturday removed as the leader of Janata Dal (United) in Rajya Sabha. The move came a day after Bihar Chief Minister said that Yadav is ‘free to go where he wants’.
Yadav's removal as the party leader in the Upper House will relegate him to the back benches after years of being seated in the front row with top leaders of other parties. As leader of the JD-U, he had the privilege of often speaking out of turn in the House and raising issues.
He has declared that he remains committed to a front of 17 parties that are trying to work together to fight the BJP in parliament and to prevent Prime Minister Narendra Modi's re-election in 2019.
The Yadav-led faction, which includes two Rajya Sabha MPs and some national office-bearers, has led itself with letters of support from 14 state unit presidents, Arun Shrivastava, a close aide of Yadav said. Kumar recently removed Yadav from the post of party's general secretary.
To counter Kumar's assertion that the JD(U) is recognised only in Bihar-- a point made to debunk claims of support from other state units by the Yadav faction-- Shrivastava claimed the party always had a national reach.He said it was Yadav who headed the party- JD (U)- before Kumar had merged his Samata Party with it.
"We will not leave the party. Nitish Kumar himself says that the party does not exist outside Bihar. Then he should form a new party for Bihar. He should not try to capture the JD(U) which always had a national presence," he said.
Yadav enjoys little support from the party legislatures , who are overwhelmingly from Bihar, but believes that he can make a fight of his claim over the party and cause a split. The original Janata Dal had seen several such splits at in the past.
Two Rajya Sabha members, Ali Anwar Ansari and M P Veerendra Kumar, are seen to be with Yadav in his fight against Kumar. The JDU has altogether 10 members in the Rajya Sabha
The Kumar headed JD (U) also made light of Yadav's claims of having the real JD(U) with him, saying that it is RJD workers and supporters who have greeted him during his tour in Bihar while its workers have kept away. During his visit to the national capita on Friday, Kumar had virtually shut the door on any reconciliation with Yadav, saying he is free to take any decision as the alliance with the BJP had the entire party's nod.
"The party has made a decision. He (Sharad Yadav) should accept it," the Chief Minister said . Yadav was also warned by the JD-U to watch his language after he slammed Nitish Kumar-led Bihar government.Countering Kumar, Yadav on Thursday said, the Chief Minister runs a "sarkari" version of his party while the real JD-U is to be found in the masses.
The JD-U's K C Tyagi hit back saying, "The political language being used by him is very objectionable and uncomfortable for the party president (Nitish Kumar) and the government (of Bihar). We will ask him to refrain from making statement which crosses limits."
Kumar had junked Grand Alliance - his allies Congress and lalu Yadav's Rashtriya Janata Dal - blaming a corruption case against lalu Yadav and his son, Tejashwi, who was Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar.