‘Sharad Yadav always raised issues of the downtrodden’

Rahul, who is currently leading the Punjab leg of the Bharat Jodo Yatra, visited Delhi’s Chhatarpur and condoled with the family of Yadav, who was staying at his daughter’s residence after vacating his Tughlaq Road bungalow last May.

Rahul met Yadav’s wife Rekha Yadav, son Shantanu Bundela and daughter Subhashini Raj Rao, who unsuccessfully contested the 2020 Bihar Assembly polls on a Congress ticket. Rahul said Yadav was a political opponent of his grandmother and former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. “He used to say they may have been political rivals, but the two shared a relationship of love and respect… he never lost respect in his long career. That’s a big thing in politics.”

Meanwhile, the Bihar Government declared state mourning on Friday as a mark of respect to Yadav. Bihar CM Nitish Kumar said: “I had a very deep relationship with Sharad Yadav Ji. I am shocked and saddened by the news of his demise. It has caused irreparable loss in social and political fields… He was a strong socialist leader, a seven-term Lok Sabha MP and a three-term Rajya Sabha MP. May his soul rest in peace.”

Bihar Governor Phagu Chauhan and RJD supremo Lalu Prasad, recuperating in Singapore after a kidney transplant, too, condoled the death of the socialist leader.
Lalu, in a video statement from hospital, referred to Sharad Yadav as ‘bade bhai’ (big brother) and recalled his old association with him.

With PTI