BSP state chief joins RJD

PATNA: Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) state president Bharat Bind joined RJD on Saturday. This is considered as another blow to RLSP chief Upendra Kushwaha, who had recently formed an alliance with BSP after quitting the Mahagathbandhan and failing to strike a deal with BJP ahead of state assembly election.

Bind took the RJD membership from leader of the opposition, Tejashwi Prasad Yadav.

Sources said Kushwaha had formed an alliance with BSP and Janwadi Party (Socialist) on September 29 after his talks with BJP leaders in Delhi failed as he wanted to contest from Valmiki Nagar parliamentary seat in the byelection as an NDA candidate.

However, Kushwaha had received a jolt the next day when the then RLSP national secretary general Madhaw Anand resigned from the party. Before Madhaw, RLSP state president Bhudeo Choudhary also joined RJD.

RLSP national spokesperson-cum-national secretary general Fazal Imam Mallick said these resignations will not affect their party’s strength in Bihar election. “This happens before elections. In fact, many RJD MLAs have left their party, so they have more problems.”

He further said talks were going on with smaller parties and very soon they will announce a seat-sharing formula and give a name to their alliance. However, he added that RLSP will be in a bigger role, but other parties will also be given respectable number of seats. “We are the third front, which is much needed in Bihar. People have seen both Nitish Kumar and Lalu-Rabri rule,” said Mallick.