The main opposition in Bihar, the Rashtriya Janata Dal, on Thursday received yet another jolt ahead of the polls when its three more MLAs including old-timer Chandrika Rai, whose daughter is locked in a nasty marital dispute with Lalu Prasads son, joined the ruling Janata Dal-United. Rai hinted that his daughter might contest the coming assembly polls.
He, however, did not specify the name of the RJD leader against whom his daughter Aishwarya would contest polls but asserted that there is no “safe seats” for both brothers Tejashwi Yadav and Tej Pratap Yadav in the state. Rai’s daughter Aishwarya had tied the knot with Prasad’s elder son Tej Pratap Yadav in May 2018 though the latter filed a divorce petition barely six months later citing incompatibility. The matter is pending with a Patna court.
Apart from Rai, the other two RJD MLAs who embraced JD-U are — Jai Vardhan Yadav, the Paliganj (Patna) MLA and grandson of former Union minister and famous Yadav leader Ram Lakhan Singh Yadav besides Faraz Fatmi, MLA from Keoti (Darbhanga).
Fatmi is the son of the former Union minister Mohammad Ali Ashraf Fatmi, who had quit the RJD during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections after he was denied ticket. Fatmi senior is currently with the JD-U headed by chief minister Nitish Kumar. \
The three joined JD-U in the presence of senior party leaders and ministers, Bijendra Prasad Yadav and Shrawan Kumar, in the party office in Patna. Earlier on August 17, three RJD MLAs Maheshwar Prasad Yadav (Gaighat in Muzaffarpur), Prema Choudhary (Patepur in Vaishali) and Ashok Kumar Kushwaha (Sasaram in Rohtas) — had joined the JD-U.
The RJD had expelled its three legislators from the party for six years on charge of anti-party activities on August 16.
The RJD’s strength is 80 in the Bihar assembly but the number has come down by six in just four days and media reports suggest that many more legislators may leave the party to join other parties especially NDA ahead of the polls expected in October-November.
Welcoming the newly inducted leaders in the party, Bijendra Prasad Yadav said that JD-U would be further strengthened with their arrival. — PTI
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