Bihar: 3 VIP MLAs join BJP, make it single-largest party; Mukesh Sahani left in the lurch

In a big blow for VIP chief Mukesh Sahani, all three MLAs of his party joined BJP, thus making it the single-largest party in Bihar with 77 seats in the Assembly. The aforesaid legislators - Raju Singh, Mishrilal Yadav and Swarna Singh represent the Sahebganj, Alinagar and Gaura Bauram constituencies respectively.

They switched allegiance to the saffron party in the presence of Bihar BJP president Sanjay Jaiswal, Deputy CMs Tarkishore Prasad and Renu Devi and formally communicated their decision to Speaker Vijay Kumar Sinha.

At present, Mukesh Sahani is serving as the Minister for Animal Husbandry and Fisheries in the Nitish Kumar-led Bihar Cabinet. He has been at loggerheads with BJP for not giving two Cabinet berths to VIP besides not giving him a full 6-year tenure in the Legislative council after his defeat in Bihar Assembly polls. He is not likely to be fielded as a candidate by NDA when his term ends in July this year.

Earlier on January 20, he dared BJP to walk out of the alliance in Bihar if it has a problem with the functioning of the state government. He also drew ire for putting up 57 candidates against the JP Nadda-led party in the recently concluded Uttar Pradesh Assembly election. The latest flashpoint was BJP fielding Baby Kumari for the by-election in Bochaha, a seat that fell vacant after the demise of VIP MLA Mukesh Paswan. VIP refused to back down and gave the poll ticket to Geeta Devi from this constituency. 

VIP's role in Bihar polls & JD(U)'s reduced clout

Formerly a set designer in Bollywood, Sahani turned to politics by initially supporting BJP. He formed his own party on November 4, 2018. While he was a part of the press conference of Mahagatbandhan to announce the seat-sharing formula on October 3, Sahani stormed out saying that he had been backstabbed by RJD.

Though he declared that his party would field candidates in all 243 seats of Bihar, VIP subsequently joined NDA and won 4 seats out of 11 in the Assembly elections.

As NDA won a very slender majority in the state Assembly with 125 seats as against the Mahagatbandhan's 110, VIP's 4 elected MLAs played a vital role in the formation of the government. Meanwhile, BJP winning more seats than JD(U) for the first time in a Bihar Assembly election led to the speculation that JD(U)'s clout in the alliance will reduce. While Kumar again took oath as the CM of Bihar, BJP has two Deputy CMs in 4-time MLAs Tarkishore Prasad and Renu Devi.