PATNA: Former Union minister and veteran socialist leader Sharad Yadav (74) has decided to formally rejoin LaLu Prasad-led RJD and get his Loktantrik Janata Dal (LJD) merged with Bihar’s main opposition party in a bid to revive his dwindling political career.
“The merger of the LJD with Lalu’s RJD will take place at Sharad Yadav’s residence at 7, Tughlak Road in New Delhi on March 20 in presence of senior RJD leader and Lalu’s son Tejaswi Yadav and other prominent leaders of the LJD,” N K Gauri, a personal aide of Sharad Yadav told TOI over phone from New Delhi.
Gauri said besides Tejashwi and RJD’s Rajya Sabha member Manoj Jha, many close associates of Sharad Yadav would remain present during the merger event.
“Before the formal merger of his party, Sharad will address a meeting of the LJD’s senior leaders including its state presidents at his Tughlak Road residence from 12 noon to 2 pm on March 20,” Gauri said, adding, “It will be a sort of the LJD’s national council meeting.”
Earlier on March 1, Lalu’s heir apparent and leader of opposition in Bihar Assembly Tejaswi Yadav had called on Sharad at the latter’s residence in New Delhi to inquire about his health and well-being.
Then, Sharad had profusely praised Tejashwi’s leadership quality saying, “No Misa Bharti, no Tej Pratap Yadav, I strongly believe that Tejashwi is the only leader who has the capacity to take the party (RJD) forward from here on. … Whatever Lalu Prasad and I did with politics in the country, Tejashwi will follow the same ideology in his political career. We have handed over our political legacy to him. He is all in the party (RJD) and he is the only one who takes decisions on behalf of the party.”
Sources in the RJD said, the party’s Rajya Sabha member Manoj Jha recently met Sharad for three to four times in Delhi to finalise the nitty-gritty of the proposed merger.
Sharad had unsuccessfully contested from Bihar’s Madhepura Lok Sabha seat in 2019 on the symbol of the RJD, but he did not merge his party then. In the 2014 general election, Sharad contested Madhepura seat as JD(U) nominee but lost the election to the RJD’s then candidate Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav.
