Many other BJP leaders to join LJP, contest against JD(U) despite warning from BJP
Three senior BJP leaders have turned rebel and joined Chirag Paswan’s political crusade against Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, much to the discomfiture of the saffron outfit. Several other BJP leaders are in the queue to join the Lok Janashakti Party and contest against Janata Dal(U) despite strong warning from the BJP.
A day after former BJP vice president Rajendra Singh, joined the LJP, two more senior BJP leaders — Usha Vidyarthi and Rameshwar Chaurasia — joined the LJP even as the State saffron leadership fretted and fumed and the JD(U) tried to calculate the loss it may have to face due to Chirag Paswan’s decision to put contest against the party’s nominees.
Usha Vidyarthi joined the LJP after meeting its president Chirag Paswan here, and is likely to be fielded from the Paliganj Assembly seat where the JD(U) will contest as well.
Sitting BJP MLA Ravindra Yadav from Jhajha also joined the LJP along with several other party rebels who have been denied tickets and see the LJP a perfect platform to take a plunge in the polls.
Rajendra Singh, who has more than three decades of association with the RSS, wanted to contest from Dinara but the seat has been allotted to the JD(U) as part of its seat-sharing arrangement with the ally.
“I have no bitterness with anyone. I have remained a small worker of the RSS. I will still talk of Ram Mandir, Kashmir, CAA-NRC, etc. I have respect for Ram Vilas Paswan also. My conscience is clear that I have to work for Dinara. The farmers still don’t get the right price for their paddy here,” Singh has been quoted as saying.
Singh narrowly lost the 2015 Assembly polls from Dinara.
Several other BJP rebels are in the queue to join the LJP, hoping the party could get them ticket to contest the polls. This has given serious headache to the JD(U), which fears that these rebels can sway the BJP cadre and win their votes at the cost of the JD(U).
“This could come in the way of transfer of the BJP votes to the JD(U),” said a JD(U) leader, adding, “If that happens our voters could do the same. That would harm the interest of the NDA.”
Realising the seriousness of the situation, State BJP leaders have repeatedly warned both Chirag and the rebels. While they have advised Chirag not to invoke the name of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in campaigning, they have asked the rebels to come back to the party fold.
Chirag may have compulsion to fall in line — he could face action from the EC if he continued to seek votes in the name of Modi — but the BJP rebels have turned deaf ears to the warning.
Chirag has come out strongly against JD(U) president and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, and claimed that the next Government in the State will be headed by the BJP with his party’s support.
Meanwhile, the BJP on Wednesday allocated 11 seats to associate partner Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) from its quota of 121 seats in Bihar Assembly polls.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had announced at a joint press conference on Tuesday that while the JD(U) will spare some seats to Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) of former Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi from its share of 122 seats and the BJP will accommodate the VIP from its quota of 121 seats in the 243-member Assembly. The JD(U) has provided seven seats to the HAM.
The seat distribution to the VIP was announced at a press conference addressed by Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi, Bihar unit president Sanjay Jaiswal and VIP chief Mukesh Sahni.
Jaiswal told reporters that the VIP will also be provided one seat in Bihar legislative council in future.
The VIP floated a couple of years ago by former Bollywood set designer Mukesh Sahni, was with the Opposition Grand Alliance till last week.
Sahni had on Friday last announced an abrupt exit from the Opposition coalition in protest against “back-stabbing” by the RJD, which helms the anti-NDA grouping, and its de facto leader Tejashwi Yadav.
