Rift within JD(U) widens further

He is said to have refused to heed an advice from Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to support the Bill in the all party meeting convened by the Centre on Monday.

 The division within the party on the issue has reached to the extent that the party president evaded a vital public meeting organised in Patna on Sunday.

Party sources says that JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar has failed in his effort to bring him to the other side before the all party meeting to end the possibility of an split in the parliamentary party on the issue.

Sharad Yadav is said to have the support of near fifty per cent of party MPs. The Bihar chief minister made it clear that he would lend his support to the Bill.

His absence in the Dalit conference at Patna is being interpreted as an indication of a ‘no return’ situation between the two leaders as his arrival was supposed to be significant and it was widely publicised too. The conference was organised to woo the Paswans, a dominant Dalit caste, the caste to which Lok Janshakti leader Ramvilas Paswan belongs to, and attended by most of the JD(U) leaders.