Bihar: In latest blow to LJP, lone MLC joins BJP
PATNA: The Chirag Paswan-led LJP, which has seen a number of desertions recently, got another jolt on Monday when its lone MLC, Nutan Singh, joined the ruling BJP.
Earlier last week, more than 200 LJP functionaries, including its state secretary Keshav Singh, had joined the JD(U). Rameshwar Chaurasia, a former MLA and a prominent BJP face who had joined Paswan’s party just ahead of the 2020 Assembly elections, also quit the party last week.
Nutan Singh’s husband Neeraj Singh, of the BJP, was recently made a minister. “I joined BJP so that both of us can work jointly,” Nutan Singh said after joining the party in the presence of its state president and Lok Sabha MP Sanjay Jaiswal.
After Nutan Singh’s switch, LJP is left with no member in the 75-member Legislative
Council.
Its lone MLA Raj Kumar Singh, who represents Matihani in Begusarai, had also met chief minister Nitish Kumar.
In the Council, JD (U) has 23 MLCs, followed by BJP (21), HAM and VIP (1 each), RJD (6), Congress (4), CPI (2) and Independent one. Sixteen seats are lying vacant.
Ties between JD(U) and LJP hit a low after Paswan’s party fielded candidates against JD(U) in the last Assembly elections and damaged the latter’s prospects.
JD(U) general secretary K C Tyagi had said, “We do not consider it (LJP) as a part of the NDA.”
Commenting on the latest development, HAM(S) spokesperson Danish Rizwan said Chirag Paswan’s aspirations at the cost of party has put his own house on fire.
“When his own party MLAs are fleeing to the BJP, how can we accept that his party has an alliance with the BJP,”Rizwan said further.