3 RJD MLAs join JD(U) ahead of Bihar polls

Three RJD MLAs joined the JD(U) on Monday, months ahead of the Bihar elections.

Maheshwar Prasad Yadav who represents the Gaighat assembly segment in Muzaffarpur, Prema Choudhary who is the MLA of Patepur in Vaishali, and Ashok Kumar Kushwaha, the legislator of Sasaram in Rohtas, switched sides.

They joined the Nitish Kumar-led party in presence of senior leader and states Energy Minister Bijendra Prasad Yadav at the JD(U) office.

While the RJD had expelled Yadav and Choudhary on Sunday, Kushwaha quit Lalu Prasad's party hours before joining the JD(U).

However, the RJD's Rohtas district unit claimed that it expelled Kushwaha for his anti-party activities.

The RJD had also expelled Faraz Fatmi, the MLA from Keoti in Darbhanga district, but he could not join the JD(U) along with his three colleagues as he is currently out of the station, sources said.

He is the son of Mohammad Ali Ashraf Fatmi, a former Union minister who had quit the RJD ahead of the Lok Sabha elections of 2019 after being denied a ticket.

Fatmi senior is currently in JD(U).

The three MLAs who joined the JD(U) expressed full faith in the leadership of Kumar, and said the work of his government inspired them to switch sides.

Welcoming them to the party fold, the minister said, These MLAs had fought the assembly elections under the leadership of Nitish Kumar in 2015 and hence they have come back to their leader.

Kumar, who is the JD(U) national president, had formed an alliance with Prasad ahead of the 2015 assembly polls, giving up years of bitter political hostility. The 'Grand Alliance' thus formed also included the Congress and the coalition went on to win the elections with a thumping majority.

While Kumar returned as chief minister, Prasad's younger son Tejashwi Yadav was appointed deputy CM.

However, Kumar grew uneasy after Tejashwi was named an accused in corruption and money laundering cases against several members of the Prasad family, including his wife and former chief minister Rabri Devi.

The JD(U) chief walked out of the coalition in July 2017, asserting that he could make no compromise on the issue of corruption, and formed a new government with the BJP, the party with which he had snapped more than a decade-old political tie in 2013.

The election to the 243-member Bihar assembly is due in October-November.