A day ahead of its former President Sharad Yadav's arrival in Bihar, the state's ruling Janata Dal-United on Wednesday distanced itself from the two-day visit and dubbed it a personal initiative.
"Sharad Yadav's visit to Bihar is his personal initiative. The JD-U has nothing to do with it," JD-U state President Vashisht Narain Singh said.
Sharad Yadav will begin his visit to seven districts, including Patna, Muzaffarpur, Samastipur, Supaul, and Madhepura, from Thursday to meet people, including his supporters and mostly JD-U leaders and workers.
"Sharad Yadav will meet party leaders and workers loyal to him to know their stand and read the political situation carefully before taking any decision," a JD-U MLC considered close to him said here.
His visit comes in the wake of Sharad Yadav's public expression of sadness over Bihar Chief Minister and JD-U President Nitish Kumar's decision to dump the Grand Alliance of the JD-U, the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Congress in the state and joined hands with the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance to form the new government.
Sharad Yadav had said Nitish Kumar's decision was against the mandate given by 11 crore people in Bihar in the 2015 assembly polls against the NDA.
JD-U Spokesperson Neeraj Kumar too said that Sharad Yadav, a former Union Minister, is visiting Bihar for two days in his personal capacity.
"Sharad Yadav is not visiting Bihar on JD-U invitation. So, where is the question of the party at all?"
Vashisht Narain Singh said the decision to join hands with the NDA was not taken by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar at the individual level. "The decision was of the Bihar unit of the JD-U, including the legislative party."
JD-U leaders started targeting Sharad Yadav since last week for what they said was compromising with corruption.
"Sharad Yadav is compromising with corruption by supporting the Grand Alliance in Bihar," JD-U Chief Spokesperson Sanjay Singh said.
Sanjay Singh also raised question over Sharad Yadav's decision to hold a national seminar against communalism in Delhi on August 17, two days ahead of the JD-U National Executive meeting in Patna.
Another JD-U Spokesperson Rajiv Ranjan said it is difficult to understand why Sharad Yadav is backing leaders with corruption charges against them. "It is for him to take a stand — but how has corruption become 'shishtachar' (courtesy) for him?"
Apart from Sharad Yadav, the JD-U's two Rajya Sabha MPs — Ali Anwar Ansari and Virender Kumar have also voiced their opposition to Nitish Kumar's decision to join hands with the BJP. Both are in close touch with Sharad Yadav in Delhi.
According to Sharad Yadav's loyalists, several party MLAs and MLCs are in touch with him.
A JD-U leader said: "Sharad Yadav was deeply hurt by Nitish Kumar's decision taken without consulting senior party leaders at a time when opposition unity was to be strengthened. Sharad Yaadav felt ignored and is likely to take a final stand soon."