'First step towards opposition unity': Sharad Yadav's Loktantrik Janata Dal merges with Lalu Prasad Yadav's RJD

Former national president of JDU and veteran socialist leader, Sharad Yadav on Sunday rejoined Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and merged his party, Loktantrik Janata Dal(LJD), with RJD headed by Lalu Prasad

Yadav said that the merger of his party with RJD is first step towards opposition unity. "It's imperative that whole opposition gets united across India to defeat BJP. As of now, unification is our priority, it'll be only after that we would think about who'll lead the united opposition", Yadav said in Delhi.

Earlier, Tejashwi and RJD member in Rajya Sabha, Manoj Kumar Jha had met Sharad Yadav at his New Delhi residence where Tejashwi is understood to have given an assurance to the veteran leader that he would be one of the two RJD nominees for the Rajya Sabha elections scheduled in June. Five vacancies to the Upper House would be filled up with BJP and RJD sending two each and JDU one member.

Sharad Yadav is seven times member to Lok Sabha and thrice elected to Rajya Sabha. He represented Madhepura constitutency of Mandal Commission fame, B P Mandal in 1991,96,99 and 2009. He was once defeated by Lalu Prasad Yadav in 2004 and in 2014 by Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav. He represented constitutencies in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh too.

In 1997 due to a contest between Lalu Prasad and Sharad in the elections to Janata Dal president, Sharad was ousted from party and Lalu formed RJD. Janata Dal merged with Samta Party floated by Nitish Kumar and Sharad became the first president of JDU .

Following differences with Nitish Kumar over JDU joining hands with the BJP in 2018,Sharad was expelled from JDU when Nitish Kumar took over the presidentship and Sharad formed a new party-LJD.

Nitish got him disqualified under the anti-defection law which Sharad challenged in Supreme Court,which allowed Sharad to retain his Tughlak Road bungalow till disposal of the petition,

In the 2020 assembly elections,his party entered into electoral alliance with the Congress party and his only daughter, Subhasini Raj Rao unsucessfully contested the elections as Congress candidate from Madhepura.