Crestfallen Sharad Yadav meets Rahul

Amid the buzz of a Cabinet berth or governor’s post for him, unhappy veteran leader Sharad Yadav met Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi at Jawahar Bhawan on Thursday.

The move added fuel to the fire within the JD(U) that cropped up over Nitish Kumar's decision to side with the BJP to form a new government in Bihar.

Sharad is crestfallen over Nitish’s decision to quit the secular ruling Grand Alliance of JD(U)-RJD-Congress after former deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav’s refusal to resign, despite facing graft charges. Sharad has remained incommunicado after Wednesday night’s political crisis hit Patna, shaking the grand Opposition unity formed ahead of the Presidential poll to checkmate the saffron surge.

To mollify the disgruntled JD(U) leaders a day before the trust vote takes place in Bihar Assembly on Friday, the BJP pressed its senior leader and Union minister Arun Jaitley to meet Sharad and convince him that his concerns will be taken care of, said BJP sources.

Throughout the day, the JD(U), too, attempted to address growing voices of dissent with another party MP Ali Anwar openly criticising Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s decision to dump the RJD-led coalition.

JD(U) sources said its leader K C Tyagi called up Sharad in his attempt to placate the sulking veteran socialist Rajya Sabha MP. Sources close to Tyagi expressed confidence that Sharad is unlikely to leave the party.