BJP blindsides Mukesh Sahani as all three VIP MLAs jump ship
Patna March 23 PTI Bihar minister Mukesh Sahani who has raised a banner of revolt against the BJP on Wednesday received a massive setback when all three MLAs elected on the ticket of his Vikassheel Insaan Party VIP jumped ship and merged with the BJPSahani was blindsided on a day he was busy helping his party candidate Geeta Devi file nomination papers for by-election to the Bochahan assembly seat which has fallen vacant upon the death of VIP MLA Musafir PaswanThe day also marked the filing of nominations by the two other significant candidates BJPs Baby Kumari and RJDs Amar Paswan who is the son of the late Bochahan MLA and changed sides after realising that the VIP chief was faced with an insurmountable political crisisIn the evening Swarna Singh Mishri Lal Yadav and Raju Kumar Singh all of them elected in 2020 as VIP candidates met Speaker Vijay Kumar Sinha informing him that they wished to be merged with the BJPThe speaker issued the notification in this regard thereby making the BJP the largest in the assembly in terms of numerical strength The party now has 77 MLAs two more than Lalu Prasads RJD the principal opposition partyEmerging from the speakers chamber the MLAs told reporters that they were returning to their home as they had all been previously associated with the BJP They also said that Sahanis confrontational stance towards the BJP was suicidalSahani a former Bollywood set designer had floated his party in November 2018 and joined the RJD-led Grand Alliance soon afterward but left just ahead of the 2020 assembly polls alleging that leader of the opposition Tejashwi Yadav was giving him a raw deal in sharing of seatsHe was inducted into the NDA at the instance of the BJP after a meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah In the elections his party won four seats though Sahani lost his own Nonetheless the BJP backed him and helped him earn a place in the Nitish Kumar cabinetHowever he seemed to have entered his formidable former patrons bad books after his foray into the Uttar Pradesh elections where the inexperienced politician contested around 50 seats and virulently attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Yogi AdityanathHe tied himself into more knots by fielding candidates against the BJP in seven legislative council seats where polls are due next month and failed to see the writing on the wall when the saffron party struck back unilaterally announcing Baby Kumaris candidature in an obvious snub to SahaniThe NDA in Bihar also includes Chief Minister Nitish Kumars JDU and ex-CM Jitan Ram Manjhis Hindustani Awam Morcha HAMJDU sources have indicated that they treated the crisis as a matter between BJP and Sahani and the HAM a small outfit with four MLAs is expected to follow the same lineThe minister who holds fishery and animal husbandry portfolio finds himself in a quandary as his own term in the legislative council where he won a seat vacated by a BJP MLC ends in July PTI NAC SOM SOM
Patna March 23 PTI Bihar minister Mukesh Sahani who has raised a banner of revolt against the BJP on Wednesday received a massive setback when all three MLAs elected on the ticket of his Vikassheel Insaan Party VIP jumped ship and merged with the BJPSahani was blindsided on a day he was busy helping his party candidate Geeta Devi file nomination papers for by-election to the Bochahan assembly seat which has fallen vacant upon the death of VIP MLA Musafir PaswanThe day also marked the filing of nominations by the two other significant candidates BJPs Baby Kumari and RJDs Amar Paswan who is the son of the late Bochahan MLA and changed sides after realising that the VIP chief was faced with an insurmountable political crisisIn the evening Swarna Singh Mishri Lal Yadav and Raju Kumar Singh all of them elected in 2020 as VIP candidates met Speaker Vijay Kumar Sinha informing him that they wished to be merged with the BJPThe speaker issued the notification in this regard thereby making the BJP the largest in the assembly in terms of numerical strength The party now has 77 MLAs two more than Lalu Prasads RJD the principal opposition partyEmerging from the speakers chamber the MLAs told reporters that they were returning to their home as they had all been previously associated with the BJP They also said that Sahanis confrontational stance towards the BJP was suicidalSahani a former Bollywood set designer had floated his party in November 2018 and joined the RJD-led Grand Alliance soon afterward but left just ahead of the 2020 assembly polls alleging that leader of the opposition Tejashwi Yadav was giving him a raw deal in sharing of seatsHe was inducted into the NDA at the instance of the BJP after a meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah In the elections his party won four seats though Sahani lost his own Nonetheless the BJP backed him and helped him earn a place in the Nitish Kumar cabinetHowever he seemed to have entered his formidable former patrons bad books after his foray into the Uttar Pradesh elections where the inexperienced politician contested around 50 seats and virulently attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Yogi AdityanathHe tied himself into more knots by fielding candidates against the BJP in seven legislative council seats where polls are due next month and failed to see the writing on the wall when the saffron party struck back unilaterally announcing Baby Kumaris candidature in an obvious snub to SahaniThe NDA in Bihar also includes Chief Minister Nitish Kumars JDU and ex-CM Jitan Ram Manjhis Hindustani Awam Morcha HAMJDU sources have indicated that they treated the crisis as a matter between BJP and Sahani and the HAM a small outfit with four MLAs is expected to follow the same lineThe minister who holds fishery and animal husbandry portfolio finds himself in a quandary as his own term in the legislative council where he won a seat vacated by a BJP MLC ends in July PTI NAC SOM SOM
