After being completely wiped off by the NDA in Bihar, more shock was in store for Upendra Kushwaha-led Rashtriya Lok Samta Party (RLSP) as two MLAs and one MLC jumped ship to join JD(U) on Sunday.
The two MLAs and the MLC who submitted their resignations are Lalan Paswan, Sudhanshu Shekhar and Sanjiv Singh Shyam respectively.
“The legislators had also appended letters of approval from the JD(U). They were asked to appear in person for the completion of formalities. Henceforth, they shall be treated as JD(U) legislators,” Assembly Speaker Vijay Kumar Chaudhary and Legislative Council deputy chairman Haroon Rashid said.
The RLSP legislators had earlier objected to Upendra’s decision to snap ties with the NDA and join the Congress-RJD led Opposition Alliance.
The legislators had announced that they would remain with the ruling coalition and seek recognition from the Election Commission as the “real Rashtriya Lok Samata Party”.
Upendra left NDA in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections, saying he felt “betrayed and dejected” by PM Modi’s leadership.
While the BJP-JD(U)-LJP combine swept the state, winning 39 of the 40 seats, for the RJD-led opposition alliance, the solitary victory went to the Congress — in Kishanganj.
In the just-concluded Lok Sabha polls, the RLSP failed to register a win in the five seats it contested, including Karakat and Ujiyarpur, from where Upendra was the candidate. It is alleged that he sold Purvi Champaran (Motihari) seat to Akarsh Kumar Singh, son of former Congress MP Akhilesh Kumar Singh, ignoring his own party mmebers.
In 2014, as part of the NDA, RLSP had won all the three seats it had contested in Bihar, riding on Modi wave.
