After losing the battle to claim the “arrow” symbol from the Nitish Kumar faction of the Janata Dal (U), senior Rajya Sabha MP Sharad Yadav said that his faction will fight the Gujarat polls under the symbol “autorickshaw” currently assigned to Maheshbhai Vasava’s Bharatiya Tribal Party (BTP).
Maheshbhai Vasava is the son of Gujarat MLA Chhotubhai Vasava, who is also the acting president of the breakaway faction of the JD(U). Mr. Yadav expressed his disappointment with the Election Commission’s decision to hand over the “arrow” symbol to the Nitish Kumar faction, terming it an “injustice.”
“The decision has not meted out justice. It is just asking the person who constructed the building to vacate it. My lawyers are looking into the matter and will soon take a call. Our fight will continue,” he said.
Mr. Yadav said that seat-sharing talks with the Congress were still going on and that a seat sharing arrangement will be announced soon.
The JD (U) has some pockets of support in the tribal regions of Gujarat, and while Mr Vasava says that this support was tied to him and not any party symbol, Mr. Yadav vowed to fight on to retrieve the “arrow”. “We are not dismayed by this decision. We knew the fate but it does not mean that we should end our fight. Our fight for the party symbol is a legal battle, but the real issue for which we are fighting is to save democracy. They (Nitish led JD-U) have insulted the mandate of the 11 crore people of Bihar by joining hands with the BJP,” Mr. Yadav said.
Javed Raza, senior leader in this faction of the JD(U), said that the party was reviewing the EC order in detail. “We do have the option of knocking the doors of the high court,” he said.
