All eyes on Sharad Yadav's public meetings

NEW DELHI: All eyes are now on senior JD U leader and Rajya Sabha member Sharada Yadav’s threeday public interaction programme beginning from Thursday.

Sharad, who will make his first public appearance in Bihar after terming JDU national president and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar’s decision to ally with BJP as betrayal of people’s mandate, will visit at least 28 places, including Darbhanga, Supaul, Saharasa, Muzzaffarpur and Madhepura.

His first halt will be at Sonepur town, a few kilometres away from Patna. He had represented Madhepura, where he would stay on August 12, at Lok Sabha .

Through his public interaction programme, he is supposed to gauge voters’ mood almost two weeks after Nitish joined hands with BJP and formed his government.

Sharad Yadav congratulating Congress leader Ahmad Patel on his victory in Rajya Sabha polls, clearly indicated that there is now no hope of reconciliation with Nitish Kumar. “Heartiest Congratulation on your victory in RS election in spite of toughest huddles. ” Sharad has tweeted.

JDU has already removed Arun Srivastava, who is considered close to Sharad, from the post of party’s general secretary. Meanwhile, JDU has taken a decision to disassociate itself from Sharad’s public interaction programme. “This is his personal programme. We have disassociated from it,” JDU spokesperson Neeraj Kumar told ET on phone from Patna.

What is important is that Sharad will embark on his public interaction yatra just 10 days before JDU’s national executive meetingin Patna. The party is expected to take a formal decision on becoming a part of NDA headed by BJP at this meeting on August 19. It is to be seen if Sharad is present at the meeting. Rajya Sabha member Ali Anwar has also criticised Nitish for joining hands with BJP in Bihar.

However, Sharad Yadav camp has so far kept its card close to chest regarding its future plan on August 17.