The Opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal in Bihar claimed on Wednesday that 17 MLAs of the Janata Dal United were in touch with it, insinuating that the NDA government in the state could slip into minority any time.
The claim triggered a political storm, with chief minister Nitish Kumar himself coming out to say that baseless assertions were being made.
RJD leader Shyam Rajak had said in a video statement: “Altogether 17 MLAs of the JDU are in contact with us. They are not only willing, but are impatient to join our party. They are miffed with the BJP over the way it is behaving, imposing itself and throwing a spanner in the government’s work.”
He added: “We are holding the JDU MLAs back. They want to join the RJD immediately, but we want to do this under the ambit of the anti-defection law. For that we need around 25 to 26 MLAs. Besides, we want only those legislators who conform to our socialist ideology. I am not putting any date to it, but very soon the JDU legislators would join our party.”
The anti-defection law enacted as the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution stipulates that switchovers from a political party would be valid only when two-thirds of its legislators or parliamentarians break away. Else, the defectors could lose their position as elected representatives. Twenty-nine legislators from the JDU would have to break away to make the defection legitimate.
Rajak claimed that the way the BJP had “gobbled up” six of the seven JDU MLAs in Arunachal Pradesh, was taking assertive decisions in Bihar and was trying to overshadow Nitish had disenchanted several JDU legislators and they were “determined not to allow it (the BJP) to dominate the government. They want to go with the secular parties”.
A minister in Nitish’s previous cabinet, Rajak quit the JDU in the run-up to the Assembly elections and returned to the RJD. He could not contest the polls because his seat Phulwari went to Grand Alliance partner CPI-ML. He is considered close to RJD chief Lalu Prasad.
Nitish reacted sharply to Rajak’s comments. “Anybody who is claiming anything is baseless. Such claims have no strength. There is no such thing,” he told journalists.
Rajak’s statement came at a time when differences have cropped up between allies JDU and BJP over the defection of the Arunachal MLAs.
A few days ago, RJD vice-president Shivanand Tiwary and former Assembly Speaker Uday Narayan Chaudhary had cautioned Nitish against the alleged designs of the BJP and suggested that he would be welcome in the Grand Alliance fold.
Chaudhary had gone further and said that Nitish should give the chief minister’s chair to RJD leader and Lalu’s younger son Tejashwi Prasad Yadav and concentrate on the Prime Minister’s post and politics at the Centre.
The NDA formed the government in Bihar in November with a thin majority. It has 125 seats in the 243-member House and claims the support of an Independent.
The Opposition Grand Alliance has 110 seats, with the RJD being the largest party in the Assembly with 75 members. The remaining eight seats belong to parties like the AIMIM, BSP and the LJP. In this situation, a swing of a few MLAs could easily change the political equations.
Spokespersons of JDU and ally Hindustani Awam Morcha Secular (HAMS) pounced on Rajak for his claims.
JDU spokesperson Rajiv Ranjan said: “Shyam Rajak has lost his place in Bihar politics. He is making such wild claims to remain in the limelight.”
HAMS spokesperson Danish Rizwan asserted that it would become clear whose MLAs were going where after January 14 when the month-long inauspicious period would end.
