The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) suffered twin jolts in eastern India today as two senior leaders — Muzaffarpur (Bihar) incumbent MP Ajay Nishad and four-time Ranka (Jharkhand) MLA and former minister Girinath Singh — quit the party to join the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA).

Ajay joined the Congress and is expected to contest the Lok Sabha polls from Muzaffarpur on its ticket.

Singh went to the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), joining it in Patna in the presence of its Bihar president Jagadanand Singh. He had previously headed the party unit in Jharkhand and called his move as ‘ghar wapsi’ (return to home). He could contest from the Chatra Lok Sabha seat in Jharkhand as an RJD candidate.

Twice an MP from Muzaffarpur, Ajay was deprived of a ticket by the BJP this time. He and his family have dominated the politics in the constituency for around three decades. His father Jai Narayan Prasad Nishad represented the Lok Sabha seat four times between 1996 and 2009.

The Muzaffarpur MPhad earlier indicated his intention of leaving the saffron party by dropping ‘Modi ka parivaar’ (Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s family) from his X handle.