RJD splits; 13 RJD MLAs extends support to Nitish Kumar's JD(U)

PATNA: Lalu Prasad's RJD in Bihar today split with 13 of the 22 legislators of the party pledging support to the Nitish Kumar government.

The 13, including five belonging to the minority community met at the residence of party MLA Samrat Chaudhary and wrote a letter to Speaker Uday Narayan Chaudhary withdrawing allegiance from the RJD and expressing support to the Nitish Kumar government.

RJD MLA Javed Iqbal Ansari confirmed to PTI that 13 party MLAs wrote to the Speaker withdrawing their allegiance from the RJD and expressing support to the JD(U) government of Nitish Kumar.

The RJD MLAs who walked out were Samrat Chaudhary, Raghvendra Pratap Singh, Durga Prasad Singh, Lalit Yadav, Anirudh Kumar, Jeetendra Rai, Akhtar-ul-Islam Sahin, Akhtar-ul-Iman, Abdul Gafood, Faiyazz, Javed Iqbal Ansari, Ram Lakhan Ram Raman and Chandrasekhar.

Samrat Chaudhary, the son of senior RJD leader Shakuni Chaudhary, alleged that Lalu Prasad had turned his party into the 'B team' of Congress in the last three months.

"The party which send him to jail by tearing up an ordinance has become the ideal of Lalu Prasad who is losing no opportunity to pester its leaders," Chaudhary told reporters.

Chaudhary who flew with the chief minister in a helicopter to Khagaria yesterday to inaugurate a road bridge said, "It will be better for Lalu Prasad to merge the party with Congress instead of allying with it for the Lok Sabha elections."