Sharad Yadav, the Janata Dal (United) Parliamentary Party leader who is upset with his party chief, Nitish Kumar, for allying with the Bharatiya Janata Party, will attend the Rashtriya Janata Dal’s “BJP Hatao Desh Bachao” rally on August 27.

On July 26, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar abruptly broke the alliance his party had struck with the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Congress, and formed a government with the BJP the next day. Since then, Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav has been inviting senior Janata Dal (United) leaders to help him fight off communal forces in Bihar and the rest of the country.

Sharad Yadav has planned a series of actions before attending the Rashtriya Janata Dal rally in Patna, Janata Dal (United) General Secretary Arun Shrivastava told Scroll.in. “For four or five days starting August 5, Sharad Yadav will tour the entire state and meet party leaders and workers as well as common people who are dismayed with the JD(U) joining hands with the BJP,” Shrivastava said.

Two days before the Janata Dal (United)’s National Executive meets in Patna, Sharad Yadav will address a meeting of Opposition parties – called at his behest at Delhi’s Constitution Club – on August 17, speaking at length about the developments in Bihar and outlining his course of action. According to Shrivastava, the August 17 meeting is being referred to as “Sajhi Virasat”, or common heritage, to emphasise communal harmony and democracy.

Speaking out

For a few days after Kumar’s decision, Sharad Yadav had kept silent on the drama in Bihar. But on July 31, he opened up. “The situation that has unfolded now is very unpleasant,” he told journalists. “Bihar’s 11 crore voters had given a mandate to the alliance based on the agreement between us. I am anguished at the fall of the alliance. The agreement reached with people at the time of the election is the biggest commitment of all. The alliance should not have been broken. I am very sad about the fall of this alliance. I am talking to party men. It is not proper to speak more than that now.”

Shrivastava said party state presidents of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Haryana, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Rajasthan and Nagaland have written to Nitish Kumar, expressing their anguish at the party’s decision to quit the alliance and join hands with the BJP.

“Soon, more state units of the party will join the popular outcry against Nitish Kumar’s decision to form the government with the BJP,” he added.