A major blow to CM Nitish Kumar, several leaders including former MP join RJD

Patna (Uttam Hindu News) - Amid the ongoing confusion over seat-sharing within the NDA, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal-United (JDU) suffered a major setback. A former MP, a former MLA and the son of a sitting MP joined the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) in Patna on Friday.

Former MP Santosh Kushwaha formally joined the RJD in the presence of Leader of the Opposition Tejashwi Yadav. He was joined by Rahul Sharma, a former JDU MLA from Jehanabad, and Chanakya Prakash, son of JDU MP Girdhari Yadav from Banka. Sharma is the son of former MP Jagdish Sharma and belongs to the Bhumihar community. Political observers believe his joining could strengthen the RJD's hold in several Bhumihar-dominated constituencies, long considered JDU strongholds.

Senior party leaders, including Abdul Bari Siddiqui, Jehanabad MP Surendra Yadav, and Bima Bharti, attended the ceremony held at the RJD office in Patna. Tejashwi Yadav launched a scathing attack on Nitish Kumar, alleging that his government was controlled by three and a half individuals who were weakening him politically. Tejashwi Yadav claimed that this was Nitish Kumar's last election. He would not become Chief Minister again. The BJP would break his party. During Operation Lotus in Maharashtra and Jharkhand, they attempted the same tactic to break the JDU in Bihar in 2022. Fearful, Nitish Kumar came to me and asked for help to save his party. We supported him and made him Chief Minister, but he betrayed us again.

Welcoming the new members into the party, Tejashwi said, "Santosh Kushwaha is a prominent leader of the Kushwaha community. His joining will further strengthen the RJD in the Seemanchal region, where our influence was previously limited."