New Delhi, July 31: Sharad Yadav today broke his silence and described Nitish Kumar's decision of realigning with the BJP as "unfortunate" and felt people's mandate had been violated but stopped short of clarifying whether he would remain with the JDU or part ways.

"Whatever happened is very unfortunate. The mandate by the people was not for this. Breaking an agreement with the people is very big thing," the senior JDU leader and Rajya Sabha MP told reporters in Parliament when asked to react over Nitish's sudden decision to snap ties with the RJD and remain chief minister with the BJP's support.

On what he would do now, the 70-year-old leader chose to be ambiguous. "Wait and see what happens," he replied while refusing to provide direct replies to any further questions.

He even refrained from replying to a query over RJD chief Lalu Prasad's call on Twitter to lead the fight against the BJP. Lalu had termed Sharad as "our leader" and urged him to lead the fight against the BJP. Lalu had even claimed Sharad telephoned him and expressed his disapproval of Nitish's decision to go with the BJP.

The former JDU president had maintained a silence since last Wednesday when Nitish suddenly terminated his two-year-old grand alliance with the RJD and the Congress and revived a partnership with the BJP to remain chief minister.

Sharad has been meeting party and Opposition leaders at his residence since last Wednesday and communicating to them his deep anguish over Nitish's "unilateral decision" but has refrained from stating anything categorically about his future plans. He has also been attacking the Modi government on Twitter over Panama Papers, black money and different cesses collected by the central government.

CPI leader D. Raja, who met him yesterday, said Sharad was "upset and disturbed". "I understand he was kept out of the decision," the CPI leader told PTI. Describing Nitish's somersault as "betrayal of the people's mandate" in Bihar, Raja said, "in this moment of crisis, Sharad Yadav should stand up and lead the fight against evil designs of BJP-RSS and communal forces".

Lalu Prasad echoed Raja, and appealed to Sharad to "undertake a nationwide tour and throw all his energy into defeating the communal forces that have fanned out in the country".

JDU leaders opposed to Nitish's move, too, have met Sharad and claimed the senior leader was "seething with anger" over Nitish's "unilateral decision".

Sources in the JDU claimed that despite being opposed to Nitish's decision, Sharad would remain with the party.

"He (Sharad) is not in a position to split the party. He hardly has MLAs and MPs behind him," one JDU leader said.

Sources close to Sharad said the leader was adamant not to support Nitish's line under any circumstances and was even ready to be expelled from the party. "Sharadji would wait for Nitish's response before chalking out his next move," one JDU leader close to Sharad said.

Even if he is expelled from the party, Sharad has nothing to lose since he can continue as an unattached MP in the Rajya Sabha and be a strong voice of the Opposition, sources said. Sources said that Sharad was even waiting for an offer from the Opposition to take a call.