Split in RJD, Nitish stands to gain

A day after his former ally, the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP), showed signs of warming up to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav received another jolt, on Monday, with 13 of his legislators deserting the party to join rival Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal (United).

However, the RJD responded quickly and brought back six of the 13 to its fold. They were later paraded before the media.

Announcing the decision, dissident RJD MLA Samrat Chaudhary said Lalu had made the party a B-team of the Congress. "Lalu ji is more interested in guarding the interests of the Congress than protecting his own party. The RJD has been reduced to a B-team of the national party," he said.

He asked the Speaker that the dissident MLAs be allowed to either merge with the JD(U) or to declare them "unattached" in House.

Acting with alacrity, Speaker Udai Narayan Chaudhary recognised the breakaway group as an "unattached" faction on an "interim basis".

RJD Legislative Leader Abdul Bari Siddiqui, with the MLAs on his side, denied the news of the split. He also accused the Chief Minister of "horse-trading and fraudulent measures to save his minority government". The RJD has called meeting of its legislators, on Tuesday, to discuss the matter. Lalu is also expected to take part in the meeting.

Siddiqui said, "Our party is still intact. Signatures of the MLAs were obtained through fraudulent means. Samrat Chaudhary wanted to contest the Lok Sabha election from Khagaria constituency. He wrote a letter to our president and asked these MLAs to sign on his behalf. Later, he also asked their support for a calling attention motion in the Assembly but later made those letters as defection application. Therefore, this is a clear-cut case of fraud." He also alleged the anti-defection laws prohibit MLAs to switch sides.