Four AIMIM MLAs in Bihar joined the RJD on Wednesday, making it the single largest party in the state Legislative Assembly. The four AIMIM MLAs who joined RJD are Shahnawaz, Mohammad Anzar Naimi, Muhammad Izhar Asfi and Syed Ruknuddin, ANI reported.
"Out of the five Bihar AIMIM MLAs, four have joined our party today. We welcome them. Now we are the largest party in the Bihar Legislative Assembly," RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav told reporters in Patna.
With the new inductions, the RJD now has 79 legislators in the 243-member Assembly. Till now, BJP was the largest party in Bihar with 77 MLAs in the Assembly. This happened after all three Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) legislators joined the BJP in Bihar in March this year. The JD(U) has 45 MLAs, the Congress 19 and the Lefts parties have 15 MLAs.
The four AIMIM MLAs were in contact with the RJD since the beginning of the month as they were apprehensive about their future after the 2021 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections in which the Asaduddin Owaisi-led party had fielded its candidates on more than 90 seats but failed to win even a single constituency, IANS reported.
Interestingly, the AIMIM, which is influential among 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 AIMIM MLAs are apprehensive that the voters of Bihar may do the same in the 2025 Assembly elections, and hence, they want to merge with RJD well before it.
(With inputs from agencies)