RJD receives another blow as 3 of its MLAs join JD(U)

Patna: Three more Rashtriya Janata Dal MLAs – Chandrika Rai, Jai Vardhan Yadav and Faraz Fatmi – joined the ruling JD(U) on Thursday.

While Fatmi, who represents Keoti (Darbhanga) assembly seat, was among the three MLAs expelled from the RJD recently for anti-party activities, Rai, who won the Parsa seat, is the father-in-law of RJD chief Lalu Prasad's elder son Tej Pratap Yadav.

All the three MLAs are associated with political families. While Fatmi is the son of former Union minister AA Fatmi, who switched to the JD(U) in July last year from the RJD, Rai is the son of former chief minister Daroga Prasad Rai. Yadav is the grandson of former Union minister Ram Lakhan Singh Yadav.


Speaking at the time of joining the JD(U), at the party office in Patna on Thursday afternoon, Rai said the RJD was no longer a party of the poor people. Fatmi said the JD(U) national president and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had worked for the development of every section of the society, including minorities and backwards. Yadav said he was impressed by the CM’s development agenda and that’s why he joined the JD(U).

Two ministers – senior JD(U) leader Bijendra Yadav and Sharwan Kumar – were present on the occasion to welcome the opposition members into the party fold.

Just three days earlier, Maheshwar Yadav and Prema Choudhari, who were expelled from the RJD recently, had joined the JD(U). RJD leader Ashok Kushwaha, against whom no action was taken by the RJD, had also joined the JD(U).

On the other hand, Bihar’s former industry minister Shyam Rajak, who had been expelled from the JD(U), joined the RJD on Monday.