PATNA: In a major setback to the Mahagathbandhan ahead of the Bihar polls, four influential leaders, including a RJD veteran and 2 sitting MLAs of Congress party, joined the ruling JD-U on Friday.
Three-time MLA Uday Narayan Rai of the RJD and Congress MLAs Purnima Yadav and Sudarshan Kumar are a big catch for the Nitish Kumar-led party.
Kaushal Yadav, the husband of Purnima Yadav, is already sitting MLA of JD-U from Nawada and her joining the JD-U was expected from December in 2019.
Uday Narayan joined the JD-U along with his son and other supporters including a former Vaishali district chief and others.
The opposition Grand Alliance comprises four parties the RJD, Congress, RLSP and the Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP).
These leaders took the membership of the JD(U) state headquarters here in the presence of senior leaders such as Ashok Choudhary, Neeraj Kumar and Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh.
A total of seven RJD MLAs have so far quit the party to join the Janata Dal (United) in the past one month while five RJD MLCs joined the ruling party in June.
Those who joined the party on Friday reposed their faith in the leadership of Chief Minister and JD(U) president Nitish Kumar, saying that they want to work with him for states all-round development.
(With PTI Inputs)