In Bihar, 4 AIMIM MLAS join RJD
Four All Indiamajlis-eittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) MLAS in Bihar joined the RJD on Wednesday, making it the largest party in the Assembly.
The RJD now has 80 MLAS in the 243-member Bihar Assembly. In March, the BJP had emerged as the largest party with 77 seats when all three Vikasheel Insan Party (VIP) MLAS joined it.
The move is being seen as a major setback for Asaduddin Owaisi whose party AIMIM had put up an impressive show by winning five out of 20 seats during the 2020 Assembly elections.
After the election results in 2020, the RJD blamed Asaduddin Owaisi’s party for eating into its Muslim votes by fielding candidates in the Seemanchal region which comprises four districts Purnia, Kishanganj, Katihar and Araria.
Political analysts said that the entry of
Asaduddin Owaisi’s party in the Seemanchal region had divided the votes of RJD and Congress.
Except for the AIMIM state president and Amnour MLA Akhtarul Imam, the four other party legislators who joined the RJD are Shahnawaz Alam of the Jokihat constituency, Mohammad Anzar Nayeemi of Bahadurganj, Mohammad Izhar Asfi of Kochadaman seat and Syed Ruknuddin from Baisi.
“I am pleased to announce that four AIMIM MLAS have joined our party. This makes RJD the single largest party in the Bihar Assembly. We believe that they work for the social justice and secularism which has been our party’s goal”, Tejashwi Yadav said.
According to sources here, the four MLAS were not comfortable in the AIMIM and had been worried about their future after the UP elections in which the party failed to win even a single seat.