PATNA: Amid the speculations about the RLSP-JDU merger, nearly 35 senior leaders of RLSP including working state president and principal general secretary joined Bihar’s principal opposition party-RJD, in a dramatic way on Friday.
Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Tejashwi Yadav, along with party state chief Jagdanand Singh gave them the primary memberships of the party. The prominent faces who joined RJD giving an existential threat to RLSP are state president Virendra Kushwaha, principal general secretary Nirmal Kushwaha, state president of Women's Cell Madhu Manjari Mehta and former state president Vijay Mahato and others. All of them received the RJD membership in the presence of Tejashwi Yadav.
They attacked Upendra Kushwaha for his decision to merge RLSP with JDU. Lashing out at Upendra Kushwaha and Nitish Kumar, Tejashwi Yadav said, “It was Nitish Kumar, who had dubbed Upendra Kushwaha during the state assembly election as ‘neech’ indirectly. Now, Kushwaha ji has decided to go with him -- the weakest chief minister of the country.”
“Only Upendra Kushwaha is left to survive or sink in the RLSP”, he mocked. Quoting an old statement of Upendra Kushwaha, Tejashwi said that once he often used to say that no one needs an enemy if he has a friend like Nitish Kumar. Now, he is going to be merged with Nitish Kumar and the CM has also become so restless to welcome Kushwaha”, he said.
He also made a frontal attack on Nitish Kumar saying that Kumar survives on the support of “Baisakhi” (support or anchor) of BJP in Bihar. “In Bihar, the development of double engine has come to a standstill.”, Yadav sarcastically said.
Earlier, on March 6, 41 RLSP leaders had joined the JDU. Meanwhile, poll analysts Arun Kumar Pandey said that RLSP has been weakened by the desertion of 35 leaders. “ But once Upendra Kushwaha, who has been projecting himself as an alternate to Nitish Kumar is speculated to be under the same man if his party merges ahead with JDU”, Pandey said.
Meanwhile, sources said that the RLSP will merger with JDU after March 14.