Sharad Yadav re-elected JD(U) chief,appeals to keep NDA intact

NEW DELHI: Sharad Yadav was today unanimously re-elected JD(U)'s national President for the third consecutive time even as he made a fervent appeal to keep the NDA alliance intact.


"I will work to strengthen the party by taking along everybody with me in the same manner that you have unanimously entrusted me with the responsibility," he said addressing the party's national council meeting here.

65-year-old Yadav made a fervent plea to keep the NDA alliance intact.

The election of Yadav, who is also the convener of NDA, came after an amendment in the party constitution, which earlier did not allow more than two terms to an incumbent as the party chief.

Yadav assumes the third stint as the JD(U) chief at a time when there is intense speculation whether his party will remain with BJP-led NDA amid increased focus on Narendra Modi as BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate for 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

JD(U)'s aversion to Modi is a known fact, which has been given expression to many times by a number of party leaders and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in particular.

Nitish Kumar proposed Yadav's name at the meet, which was endorsed. Yadav was the only one to have filed the nomination for the post and yesterday was the last day for withdrawal of papers.

Yadav's name was proposed by around 20 state units of the party including Bihar where JD-U is running a government in alliance with BJP. The Bihar Chief Minister was the first proposer in one of the nomination sets filed by Yadav.

Yadav became the JD(U) president in 2006 succeeding George Fernandes who had been elected the party president in 2003.

Though the term of president in JD(U) is only two years, Yadav continued till 2009 and was again elected to the post. The election for the party chief's post was due since 2011 but JD(U) sought extension from the Election Commission.

A four-time MP from Madhepura Lok Sabha seat in Bihar, Yadav, who is in politics for the last four decades, had first become MP from Madhya Pradesh's Jabalpur constituency in 1977 during the anti-Congress movement in the country.

Hailing from Madhya Pradesh's Hoshangabad district, he is an electronics engineering graduate from Jabalpur. Yadav was selected for the 'Outstanding Parliamentarian Award' for 2012.