We don't want to break alliance with BJP, says Sharad Yadav

The Janata Dal-United JD(U) on Sunday said its alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was very old and it did not want to break the partnership. "Our alliance with the BJP is very old and we don't want to break it. We want to continue this alliance. Difference between the BJP and JD-U is being projected by the media," Sharad Yadav said at the two-day national party meet in Delhi, where he was unanimously re-elected JD(U)'s national president for the third consecutive time. In an indirect reference to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi whose candidature for the Prime Minister's post has been opposed by the JD(U), Mr. Yadav said: "We don't have anything to do with any individual. We have been with the NDA for the past 17 years and we had to suffer because of our coalition... but we still continued." He said the JD(U) had been weakened since it merged with the Samata Party and there were many challenges facing it. "There are challenges everywhere and every time. We have not been able to make the party reach where it was supposed to reach," Mr. Yadav said. "When JD(U) and Samata Party merged, both were national parties. But now their strength has decreased," he added.