Huge blow to Lalu, 13 RJD MLAs set to join JD (U)

The legislators have announced their support to the Nitish govt

In a massive jolt to Lalu Prasad Yadav, 13 Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MLAs have submitted their resignation just two months ahead of Lok Sabha elections.

 

The 13 out of a total 22 RJD legislators met at the residence of MLA Samrat Chaudhary and wrote to Vidhan Sabha Speaker Uday Narain Choudhary pledging support to the Nitish Kumar government.

 

Reacting to split in the party, Lalu said: "I have heard some news, I am not sure if it has happened."

The RJD MLAs who walked out were Samrat Chaudhary, Raghvendra Pratap Singh, Durga Prasad Singh, Lalit Yadav, Anirudh Kumar, Jeetendra Rai, Akhtar-ul-Islam Sahin, Akhtar-ul-Iman, Abdul Gafood, Faiyazz, Javed Iqbal Ansari, Ram Lakhan Ram Raman and Chandrasekhar.

 

Chaudhary, the son of senior RJD leader Shakuni Chaudhary, alleged that Lalu Prasad had turned his party into the 'B team' of Congress in the last three months.

 

"The party which send him to jail by tearing up an ordinance has become the ideal of Lalu Prasad who is losing no opportunity to pester its leaders," Chaudhary said. 

 

Chaudhary who flew with the chief minister in a helicopter to Khagaria yesterday to inaugurate a road bridge said, "It will be better for Lalu Prasad to merge the party with Congress instead of allying with it for the Lok Sabha elections." 

The Bihar Assembly has 22 RJD MLAs. The Speaker has allotted separate seats for the 13 MLAs as they have announced support to the Nitish Kumar-led JD (U) government.

In October last year, former Bihar chief minister and RJD leader Rabri Devi had claimed that the party is united and people of Bihar are with Lalu Prasad while hinting that the Congress, Ram Vilas Paswan's Lok Janshakti Party and her party will fight elections together.

(PTI contributed to this story)