Amid political turmoil in Maharashtra, fresh trouble was witnessed in Bihar on Wednesday as four of five MLAs of Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM joined the Rashtriya Janata Dal. As RJD’s MLA-count went up to 79, it retained the single largest party in Bihar, leaving behind the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
According to reports, the four MLAs are Shahnawaz, Izhar, Anjar Nayani and Syed Rukundin. Only state president Akhtarul Iman has decided to stick to Owaisi’s All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen.
News agency IANS, in an earlier report, quoted sources as saying that four AIMIM MLAs are in contact with the RJD as they are apprehensive about their future after the 2021 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections in which the Owaisi-led party had fielded its candidates on more than 90 seats but failed to win even a single constituency.
Interestingly, the AIMIM, which is mainly backed by the Muslim voters, had cut into the votebank of RJD in at least 20 constituencies in the 2020 Bihar Assembly election. However, the Muslims in UP did not vote for the Hyderabad-based party.
The Bihar AIMIM lawmakers fear that the Bihar electorate may snub them in the 2025 Assembly polls, and hence, are planning to join the RJD.
If AIMIM MLAs merge with the ruling party and then the RJD will become the single largest party in Bihar which currently has 76 MLAs. The Bharatiya Janata Party has 77 MLAs in the Bihar Assembly after the merger of 3 MLAs of Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) with it.
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