Opposition asks Sharad Yadav to lead effort to save composite culture

TIL Desk/National/New Delhi/ Emboldened by the impressive show of strength at Thursday’s ‘save our composite culture’ conference here, Opposition leaders on Thursday appealed to rebel Janata Dal (United) leader Sharad Yadav to lead the campaign across India.

Several top Opposition leaders of 15 parties attended the five-hour long conference. The Opposition plan is to keep it a non-political effort under Yadav’s leadership. Yadav, who emerged as a rallying figure, is also slated to visit Patna on Saturday, the day that Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is to chair JD (U)’s national executive. The meeting is to pass a resolution to officially join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance.

Yadav, however, will hold a parallel “non-political” conference in Patna on Saturday, said one of his associates. Yadav and some others have protested Bihar CM’s decision to ally with the BJP. There would not be any Rashtriya Janata Dal flag or face on the dais at Yadav’s Patna event, the associate said. Yadav would then visit the flood affected districts of Bihar.

At the well-attended conference here today, Congress’s Ahmed Patel, who was accorded a warm welcome for his recent Rajya Sabha win against heavy odds, suggested that Yadav should shape an action plan, constitute a small committee, to spread the message of the need to save India’s composite culture to all parts of the country. Patel and others called for Opposition unity to defeat Narendra Modi-led BJP in 2019.