When ties with mentor are strained

K C Tyagi is having a difficult time these days facing questions from journalists about Sharad Yadav

Janata Dal (United) General Secretary K C Tyagi is having a difficult time these days fielding questions from journalists about his one-time mentor Sharad Yadav. A Rajya Sabha member of the party, Yadav has been openly critical of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s decision to ally with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Yadav and Tyagi were comrades in arms during their younger, poorer days, living for eight years in a one-room tenement before the two entered Parliament in 1989. Tyagi has desisted from using sharp words against Yadav but is under pressure from the party to read the riot act to the rebel leader. On a lighter note, Tyagi has taken to serving dhokla, a Gujarat snack, along with the usual samosa and tea, to visiting journalists. A journalist told Tyagi how it was more proof that his party had aligned with the BJP, dominated as it is by leaders from Gujarat, in letter and spirit.