Acting President of the Sharad Yadav-led faction of the Janata Dal (United) Chhotubhai Amarsinh Vasava on Monday said that the party will tie up with the Congress and the Left to fight the Bharatiya Janata Party in the upcoming Gujarat Assembly election, PTI reported. “We will also try to have a tie-up with Hardik Patel,” he added.

Vasava, a tribal leader and the lone JD(U) MLA in Gujarat, also attacked the BJP and said that its demonetisation and Goods and Services Tax polices have destroyed the economy. He was elected the acting president on Sunday at the national executive meeting of the faction in New Delhi. The faction had also declared Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s election as the party chief void.

These developments come amid the two factions, led by Yadav and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, fighting for claim over the JD(U)’s arrow symbol. On September 14, the Yadav camp had filed a fresh application before the Election Commission staking claim for the party’s symbol, just days after it had rejected the faction’s earlier claim because of a lack of supporting documents. On September 11, Kumar’s faction had staked its claim to the symbol, and said that Yadav had no basis or reason to claim the party or its symbol.

The rift between Kumar and Yadav began after the Bihar chief minister broke the party’s alliance with the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Congress. He joined hands with the BJP to form the government in Bihar. Kumar had said he was quitting because of the corruption charges against many leaders of the RJD, including its chief Lalu Prasad Yadav and his son Tejashwai Yadav, who was also the deputy chief minister of Bihar before the alliance split.