Sharad Yadav's show of strength with opposition parties tomorrow

NEW DELHI: Dissident JDU leader Sharad Yadav, who had opposed Nitish Kumar realigning his party with BJP, on Wednesday formally identified his camp with the Opposition by saying the ‘Save India’s Composite Culture’ convention he is organising in Delhi on Thursday is a “collective” project of many Opposition parties and that he is acting as the convenor for organising the function.

His comment advertises his resolve, given the fact that Nitish Kumar had suspended party MP Ali Anwar only last Friday by holding him guilty of attending an Opposition meeting convened by Sonia Gandhi.

Yadav further said his camp, along with other Opposition parties, intends to hold such conferences in state capitals such as Patna, Lucknow, Bhopal etc. ET had reported on Wednesday that the Yadav group is planning to hold a “parallel conference” in Patna on Saturday where Nitish Kumar will be presiding over the JD(U) executive in the state city.

Leaders of many Opposition parties are slated to join Yadav at Thursday’s Delhi convention which is expected to be a critique of the Modi government, BJP politics and JDU-BJP pact, among other issues.

Maintaining that the Constitution is being “tinkered with” since the BJP government assumed office, Yadav told a press conference that the “composite culture is the soul of the Constitution as it provides basis for people belonging to different religions, castes, language and culture living together.”