JOIN USDenied ticket, top BJP rebels queue up before Chirag Paswan to join LJP
A day after the BJP snubbed the LJP and made it clear that it won’t join hands with those who question the NDA chief ministerial candidate Nitish Kumar, there was a mad scramble among the rebel BJP leaders to join the LJP. Two top BJP functionaries, in the last 24 hours, have quit the saffron camp and queued up before Chirag Paswan to join the LJP after being denied ticket by the BJP.
One such leader is the Bihar BJP vice-president Rajendra Singh, who, during the 2015 Assembly poll, was also considered to be one of the probable chief ministerial faces of the saffron camp. This election, he has been denied a ticket from his fiefdom: Dinara. The seat has gone to JD (U) where Nitish has fielded his minister Jai Kumar Singh from the constituency.
After resigning from the BJP, Rajendra Singh met Chirag and was soon declared the LJP candidate from Dinara.
Similar is the case of senior BJP leader Usha Vidyarthi, a former party MLA from Paliganj. Usha is currently a member of the Bihar Women Commission and, therefore, enjoys the ministerial rank. She was lobbying for the BJP ticket from Paliganj but the constituency was ‘usurped’ by the JD (U). On Wednesday, Usha met Chirag Paswan after dumping the BJP. The LJP chief was quick to announce her as the party nominee from Paliganj.
Deccan Herald had yesterday reported “How BJP has trapped Nitish in his fiefdom” wherein it dwelt at length that though the BJP was officially contesting on 121 seats as against the JD (U)’s 122, but for all practical purposes, the saffron party was actually contesting on all the 243 seats in Bihar through its proxy - the LJP.
On Wednesday, the ‘behind-the-curtains’ drama came to the fore when top BJP rebels like Rajendra Singh and Usha Vidyarathi became LJP nominees in no time.
Deccan Herald has reliably learned that there are 11 more such BJP leaders who, in the next few days, would join the LJP and contest the Assembly poll as Chirag Paswan’s nominees. These leaders belong to Sasaram, Nokha, Suryagarha, Bhojpur, Khagaria, Gaya, and Jehanabad.
“What’s wrong if someone is joining the LJP,” wondered senior LJP leader Sanjay Saraf.