The resentment in BJP and Congress state units has resulted in a windfall for RJD and JD(U), with entire units of leader and cadre shifting camp for ‘‘better prospects’’. And predictably, the rebels will take on their adversaries in several constituencies.Former BJP MPs Dhirendra Agrawal and Mahavir Vishwakarma were expelled by state unit chief Abhay Kant Prasad for anti-party activities. This when the two were swept up by RJD chief Laloo Prasad Yadav. Agrawal, the BJP MP from Chatra in 1998 who had lost to RJD’s Nagmani in the 1999 polls, had rebelled after the party gave the ticket to Nagmani this time.Agrawal now faces not only Nagmani but JD(U)’s Inder Singh Namdhari who has quit from the post of Assembly Speaker. Vishwakarma, who was the BJP MP from Hazaribagh in 1996, turned against the party’s nominee and Union Minister of External Affairs, Yashwant Sinha with Hazaribagh slipping from his hands. Vishwkarma was expelled as he declared his candidature from Hazaribagh. The BJP has not been able to wean a heavyweight from the RJD so far. BJP state unit chief U.S. Kedia, however, said it has plugged any potential source of trouble. ‘‘By expelling them (Agrawal and Vishwakarma), we have made it clear that defectors would not be tolerated,’’ Kedia said. The Congress, on the other hand, lost former Palamau MLA Radha Krishna Kishore to the JD(U).
