The Sharad Yadav-led Janata Dal (United) faction will align with the Congress and Left parties in the Gujarat Assembly elections, party leader Chhotubhai Vasava said here on Monday. “We will align with the Congress and parties like the CPI(M) and CPI and try to defeat BJP,” he said. “We will also try to have a tie-up with Hardik Patel.” The present Gujarat Assembly completes its five-year tenure in December and the new House has to be put in place by then.
Asked about the NCP, Vasava said, “It is with them (BJP)”. This view amounts to an endorsement of the stand taken by Gujarat Congress president Bharatsinh Solanki earlier against any tie-up with the NCP. The Sharad Yadav loyalists had on Sunday declared the election of Bihar CM Nitish Kumar as party president void and appointed Vasava as acting president of the JD(U). Asked about Nitish’s position in the party, Vasava said he had left the party. He said new office-bearers “would be appointed soon”.
In response to a question, Vasava — a six-term MLA and an influential Adivasi leader from Gujarat — said that the Opposition would fight the BJP on a variety of issues, including demonetisation and GST. Regarding the Sardar Sarovar Dam, inaugurated by PM Narendra Modi on Sunday, he said, “The inauguration has happened for the sixth time.” He claimed the dam would not benefit tribals, and “instead, the water will be used by industrialists”. Senior JD(U) leader Javed Raza told the media that they had moved the Election Commission to stake claim to the party’s name, symbol and flag and sought four weeks’ time to supply it with documents to support their claim.
As the one-week period given by the Rajya Sabha secretariat to Sharad Yadav and Ali Anwar for responding to the rival faction’s petition seeking their disqualification expired on Monday, Anwar, accompanied by a lawyer, met the secretary-general to seek extension of one month. Anwar told reporters that he had pointed out to the secretary-general that they needed time to study all legal aspects of the matter. “Some of them had not been authenticated,” he said.
