‘Rajneeti nahin badlegi’: Sharad Yadav vacates Tughlaq Road bungalow

Claiming that he does not own a house in Delhi, Yadav said “makaan badalne se rajneeti nahin badlegi (shifting house does not mean my politics is going to change)” as he shifted to his daughter’s house in Chhatarpur.

The Delhi High Court had on March 15 directed the ailing politician to vacate the bungalow within a fortnight, saying that over four years had passed since he was disqualified as a Rajya Sabha MP. Later, he obtained a two-month extension from the Supreme Court which ended on Tuesday.

Interacting with mediapersons shortly before leaving the house, Yadav, who merged his Loktrantrik Janata Dal (LJD), a party he had floated in 2018, with the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) in March, appeared wistful, recounting his long political journey, including repeated incarcerations. He was flanked by his son Shantanu Bundela and daughter Subhashini Raj Rao, who unsuccessfully contested the 2020 Bihar Assembly polls on a Congress ticket.

Asked if he was disappointed with the RJD for not picking him for Rajya Sabha from one of the two seats the party is set to win, Yadav said, “Ab jab bat gayi ticket, toh kya fayda charcha karke…kissa khatam ho gaya (now when the tickets have been finalised, what is the point in discussing this? The story is over).”

The RJD has fielded party supremo Lalu Prasad’s elder daughter Misa Bharti and former MLA Faiyaz Ahmed as its Rajya Sabha nominees.

Yadav was disqualified from the Upper House in 2017 after a fallout with the JD(U) steered by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. On Tuesday, Yadav made his disappointment with the decision apparent, repeatedly bringing up how the “Chairman (of RS) showed me the way out of the House”.

On March 31, another Lutyens’ landmark — 12 Janpath — was vacated by the family of former Union minister late Ram Vilas Paswan.