JD(U), LJP leaders join RJD as Bihar poll heats up

Patna: Former JD(U) lawmakers Santosh Kushwaha and Rahul Sharma on Friday joined the Opposition RJD ahead of next month’s Bihar Assembly elections.

JD(U)’s Banka MP Girdhari Prasad Yadav’s son Chanaykya Prasad Ranjan and Lok Janshakti Party leader Ajay Kushwaha also joined the RJD in the presence of party leader Tejashwi Yadav.

Welcoming the new entrants, Yadav said, “The RJD family welcomes Santosh Kushwaha, Rahul Sharma, Ajay Kushwaha and Chanaykya Prasad Ranjan. The party will be strengthened after their joining.”

He alleged that people were disillusioned with the ruling NDA in Bihar. “The CM is not in his senses. His government will be thrown out by the people in the Assembly polls,” he said.

Santosh Kushwaha had won the Purnea Lok Sabha seat for the JD(U) twice on the trot, but lost to Independent candidate Pappu Yadav last year.

His Lok Sabha debut in 2014 had taken many by surprise as he quit the BJP, giving up the Baisi Assembly seat and rode against the “Modi wave”, bagging for the JD(U) one of the only two seats for the party of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who was shattered by the drubbing and stepped down, owning moral responsibility, only to return less than a year later.