LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan’s dreams of rising to power in Bihar with the RJD met a major double whammy on Tuesday when two of the party’s prominent MLAs joined the ruling JD(U) and the BJP, swelling the ongoing exodus of leaders from the RJD-LJP camp.
Mr Izhar Ahmed, the lone Muslim MLA in the LJP, joined the JD(U) in presence of chief minister Nitish Kumar while LJP legislator Achyutanand Singh joined the BJP in presence of deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi amid fanfare at the respective Bihar state headquarters of the two NDA allies in Patna. The already triumphant moods in the JD(U) and the BJP, despite smouldering differences between them, became louder with signs of a weakening LJP.
Mr Ahmed’s departure is being seen as a severe blow to Mr Paswan’s Muslim applecart, which was already badly upset when the LJP’s entire minority wing merged with the JD(U) just three days back. These two incidents could prompt Bihar’s Muslims, considered to be the LJP’s core vote bank along with the dalits, to reconsider their allegiance to the RJD-LJP, said analysts.
Of the 47 Muslim candidates the LJP had fielded in the November 2005 Assembly polls, only Mr Ahmed had won in Ghanshyampur constituency in Darbhanga district. Ironically, Mr Paswan, despite his aggressive pitch for a Muslim chief minister during the 2005 polls, did not appoint Mr Ahmed in any significant post like Legislative Party leader or chief whip. LJP legislator Maheshwar Singh, who had won by just 108 votes as against Mr Ahmed’s margin of over 5,000, was instead appointed the LJP’s Legislative Party leader.