Former JDU leader Sharad Yadav waves to supporters during the launch of the Loktantrik Janata Dal in New Delhi, on Friday. Sharad said constitutional values faced a danger under the Narendra Modi government and asked Opposition parties to work together to defeat the BJP in the next Lok Sabha polls.

“We should vow to remove this government in 2019. If they come to power again, you will not allowed to hold meetings and make speeches (against them).” He accused chief minister Nitish Kumar of bringing “disgrace” to the people of his state by “sitting in the lap” of the BJP and said the Modi dispensation at the Centre had failed to fulfil key promises and was solely relying on “Hindu-Muslim” issues to come to power.

Sharad himself is not a member of the new party, as he is fighting a court battle to claim the JDU’s election symbol. Condemning the Karnataka governor’s decision to swear in BJP leader B.S. Yeddyurappa as chief minister, Sharad said Governor Vajubhai Vala was acting at the BJP's behest. “The Yeddyurappa government will lose the floor test tomorrow (Saturday),” he said. Rajya Sabha member M.P. Veerendra Kumar proposed a social resolution on the occasion. The resolution seeks to achieve the objective of justice, liberty, equality, fraternity, socialism and secularism. 

Text by PTI, Picture by Prem Singh