Jha joins RJD, JD wonders why so late

The JD(U) top brass, however, chose to dismiss Jha’s defection as ‘‘insignificant.’’ Flanked by the party’s Parliamentary Board chairman and Union Food Minister Sharad Yadav, Nitish said: ‘‘This will in no way affect our electoral prospects in Bihar. Jha’s defection has no significance. In Bihar, this is nothing new.’’

Speaking to mediapersons, he added: ‘‘I am glad it happened. Jha should have left long ago. He needed an alternative after opposing the merger of the Samata with the JD(U) and today he has joined the RJD.’’ He also believed Jha’s switch to the RJD would not affect the upper caste votes in the latter’s favour. ‘‘The NDA is very strong in Bihar,’’ he replied.

Both leaders also expressed confidence they would not have any differences with senior partner BJP on the issue of seat-sharing in Bihar and Jharkhand in the coming Lok Sabha polls. Sharad said: ‘‘We expect a just and fair share of seats and we hope it will be decided on by looking at both our performance in the last election and our performance in the country. We will sit and sort it out.’’

While JD(U) leaders believed they will retain their share of 25 out of the 40 Lok Sabha seats, they did foresee a tussle in the division of the 14 seats in Jharkhand. The BJP, which won 12 seats out of 14 last time, has declared it would like to contest all 14 seats yet again.