Updated: October 14, 2020 7:09:57 pm
Subhashini Yadav at the Congress headquarters in New Delhi. (AND ME)
The daughter of veteran socialist leader Sharad Yadav, Subhashini Yadav, joined Congress today and sources said she could be run as a party candidate from the Bihariganj seat in Madhepura district.
Yadav, who had floated his own party, Loktantrik Janata Dal (LJD) after parting ways with JD (U) in 2017, is unwell and is in hospital. Subhashini’s decision to join Congress is interesting given the fact that Yadav for most of his political career had fought against Congress.
In fact, like other high-ranking Bihar leaders like Lalu Prasad Yadav, Nitish Kumar, Sushil Kumar Modi and the late Ram Vilas Paswan they were products of the JP movement and lived and breathed anti-Congressism for decades. They all built their political careers on the anti-Congress platform.
In 1974, at the height of the JP movement, a young Yadav was presented as a joint opposition candidate in a by-election for the Jabalpur Lok Sabha constituency. He won and many believe that the opposition’s victory against the powerful Indira Gandhi was one of the turning points in Indian politics. But after the BJP’s defeat in the Bihar elections by the RJD-JD (U) -Congress alliance in 2015, Yadav had said that the era of anti-congressism was over.
Speaking to The Indian Express, Subhashini said that “my ideology is narrated by my father. I adore him and he is my idol. So, whatever their ideology, it is my ideology and today at this point … all the opposition parties are united and want to fight against the communal forces in the country ”.
Subhashini, a political science graduate and MBA graduate, said she chose politics because there was a demand from people to give them leadership as her father had not held up well.
When asked why he decided to join Congress, he said that “Congress is part of the great alliance. It has been part of the mahagatbandhan since 2017…. JP has also been kicked out of Congress … but he opposed Congress and led a nationwide upheaval. So there may be political differences but of course the agenda should be the same. The agenda of the great alliance is to bring development and bring changes in the state … so I keep it ”.
“This was the offer that Congress made me. And I accepted willingly because the Congress and my father together had created a platform of sanjhi virasat against the communal forces in the country, “he added.
“My father was not well. I did not have the courage to go from one place to another. He was in the line of the mahagathbandhan and therefore I am in the same line … This time he cannot actively participate in the politics of Bihar, but he has always supported the mahagatbandhan (great alliance) and has worked for it . I am his daughter and it is my moral responsibility to carry on his legacy… ”. she said.
In addition to Subhashini, Congress could also feature the former MP and actor who became the son of politician Shatrughan Sinha, Luv Sinha, from a seat in Patna.
Congress has already sent the son of Congressional Legislative Party leader Sadanand Singh Shubhanand Mukesh from the Kahalgaon assembly seat and former minister, and the son of MLA Awadhesh Kumar Singh, Shashi Shekhar Singh, from his seat in Wazirganj . In addition, he has sent the daughter-in-law of former MLA Aditya Singh, Nitu Kumari from Hisua.
Meanwhile, veteran LJP leader Kali Prasad Pandey also joined Congress today. He has already submitted his nomination from the constituency of the Kuchaikote assembly in the Gopalganj district as a candidate for Congress. Congress has already dispatched another renegade Gajanand Shahi from his Barbigha seat. Shahi had joined Congress from JD (U).
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