PATNA: In a major jolt to opposition grand alliance in Bihar, two Congress MLAs and one MLA from RJD switched sides and sat in the treasury benches during budget session of the ongoing Bihar assembly on Tuesday.
The MLAs Murari Prasad Gautam and Siddharth Saurav (both Congress) and Sangita Kumari (RJD) were earlier seen entering the assembly behind deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary, who is also state BJP president. They sat on the ruling side, upon being signalled by Choudhary to do so, and legislators of the ruling NDA thumped their desks in approval.
The episode comes about a fortnight after three RJD MLAs deserted the party on a day its senior and former Speaker Awadh Bihari Choudhary got voted out in no-confidence motion, and new government headed by JD(U) chief Nitish Kumar, with BJP as an ally, won the trust vote. Gautam was a minister in the previous grand alliance government.
While Gautam represents Chenari assembly constituency, Siddharth is an MLA from Vikram. Sangita represents Mohania assembly seat in the state assembly.
Sangita openly admitted that she joined BJP when reporters approached her for comments outside the Bihar assembly. However, Gautam and Siddharth remained evasive in their replies to media queries.
Earlier, three RJD MLAs--Neelam Devi (Mokama), Chetan Anand (Sheohar), and Prahlad Yadav (Lakhisarai)--had voted in favour of ruling NDA government led by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on February 12, leaving leader of opposition and RJD leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav in a state of shock.
The development came when RJD leader and former deputy chief minister Tejashwi Prasad Yadav is on his ‘Jan Vishwas Yatra’ across the state. Sources said that the three MLAs changed sides on the persuasion of deputy chief minister and BJP state president Samrat Choudhary.
Meanwhile, Congress legislator party leader Shakeel Ahmad Khan said that both the Congress MLAs who defected to BJP would be expelled from the party.
Calling them ‘traitors’, Khan said that people of their respective assembly constituencies would teach them a lesson in the election. “These MLAs prospered in the Congress party but now they are heaping praise on a different party,” he remarked.
The development assumed significance in the wake of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's proposed visit to Bihar's Aurangabad and Begusarai districts on March 2.