Hint of grand alliance at book launch

Former Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Union Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu at a function for the release of coffee-table book ‘Sangharsh ke Senani’ on JD (U) chief Sharad Yadav (left), in New Delhi on Monday.—Photo: Shanker Chakravarty

A bigger show of strength was seen on the lawns of 7, Tughlak Road, the residence of JD(U) president Sharad Yadav on Monday.

Days after the release of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Sharad Pawar’s autobiography on the occasion of his 75th birthday saw a galaxy of leaders gathering at Vigyan Bhawan, an even bigger show of strength was seen on the lawns of 7, Tughlak Road, the residence of JD(U) president Sharad Yadav on Monday.

Leaders ranging from Congress president Sonia Gandhi, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad to Chief Ministers Nitish Kumar and Arvind Kejriwal to Union Ministers M. Venkaiah Naidu, Rajnath Singh and Mukthar Abbas Naqvi to BJP veterans L.K. Advani and Yashwant Sinha to CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury, Trinamool Congress MP Derek O’Brien and Samajwadi Party boss Mulayam Singh Yadav, were all there to felicitate Mr Yadav as a book based on his life was released by Vice-President Hamid Ansari.

Coming close on the heels of the massive victory of the JD(U)-led Grand Alliance in Bihar, the occasion provided fodder for speculation about the possibility of further political collaboration in the string of assembly elections in the coming months. Indeed, the JD(U), though confined to Bihar, has been trying to play a mediatory role in trying to ensure a degree of opposition unity to take the BJP on across the country.

If the cynosure of all eyes were the two chief ministers — Mr. Kumar for his triumph in Bihar and Mr Kejriwal for taking on the government — Ms Gandhi, accompanied by several party MPs, decided to stay back for the lunch that was laid out on the lawns — a decision that was a political statement by itself.

The gathering despite its high VVIP quotient was a friendly, egalitarian one with minimum security, with even JD(U) party workers present in large numbers milling around, all partaking of the same meal — quite unlike the stiff formality of the event at Vigyan Bhawan. The speeches were minimal, with much bonhomie on display.

A subsidiary political statement was made when Mr. Yashwant Sinha — seen as a BJP dissident — greeted Mr Kumar with a warm hug.

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