He pointed out that the 18 percent minority votes in Bihar really mattered to his party. "This 18 per cent is not mud, they are votes. Who won't take care of these votes? If we don't take care, we will be facing trouble".
Yadav however added that he still continued to have good relationwhip with the BJP. "Our paths are different now, but our relationships have not broken".
The JD(U) chief said, his party agreed with Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik's view that BJD will maintain equidistance from both the BJP and the Congress. "We will also maintain equidistance."
Yadav said, he tried his best to broker peace between his party and the BJP, but he alleged that BJP ministers in Bihar were constantly issuing statements against their chief minister Nitish Kumar.
Sharad Yadav revealed how in 2002, soon after the Gujarat riots, all the JD(U) ministers at the Centre had decided to resign, but were persuaded by the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee not to take the hasty step.
"The perceptions about Atalji and Advani throughout India are different from the perception about the Gujarat chief minister", said Yadav.
"Anybody who wants to become PM must have the ability to take everybody with him. Atalji took 24 parties alongwith him in the NDA government", he pointed out.
