Bollywood set designer-turned-politician Mukesh Sahni, who goes with self-styled sobriquet ‘Son of Mallah’ (son of boatman), and his Vikassheel Insan Party (VIP) joined the Opposition Mahagathbandhan (Grand Alliance) in Bihar in the presence of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav on Friday.
It will contest in three Lok Sabha seats — Gopalganj, Motihari and Jhanjharpur — in the state.
The move came a few days after Sahni’s efforts to join the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) bandwagon failed because the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) offered him just one seat in the polls.
Sahni claims to have the support of the Nishad (boatmen, fishermen) caste and its sub-castes, which account for over 7 per cent of the 13 crore population of the state.
Expressing happiness over Sahni coming to the Mahagathbandhan fold, Tejashwi hailed it as a big decision, which would strengthen the alliance in the state.
“Seat-sharing for the Lok Sabha polls in the alliance has already been announced. The Congress and the Left parties have been allocated the constituencies. So the RJD, which got 26 seats to contest, has decided to give three seats from its quota to Sahni. This is the decision of our party’s national president (Lalu Prasad),” Tejashwi said.
“The VIP will contest Gopalganj, Jhanjharpur and Motihari seats. We will not only contest the Lok Sabha polls together but will also do so in the Assembly elections,” he said.
The RJD leader also said that those (read the BJP) who are giving slogans about winning more than 400 seats in the general elections would bite the dust in Bihar.
“We are seeing the condition of the country where dictatorship is being adopted and the Constitution is in danger. They want to destroy peace, harmony, brotherhood, and diversity. Let me tell you, nobody has the power to change the Constitution of the country and remove democracy in the country,” Tejashwi said.
The RJD leader also accused BJP leaders of openly talking about doing away with the Constitution if they win more than 400 seats in the coming polls.
Speaking on the occasion, Sahni asserted that he believed in the ideology of RJD chief Lalu Prasad, which was about the welfare of the poor, backward and downtrodden people. “I saw thousands of issues of our people, and left the luxurious life of Mumbai to work and struggle for them. I agitated for them and formed a political party. We had worked and decided to live with our heads held high, but you all saw how the BJP purchased our MLAs, split our party and threw us out of the government despite having formed it with our support.”
