Laloo bids to hijack more Dal MLAs

JD president Sharad Yadav has written to Bihar Assembly Speaker Dev Narain Yadav seeking action against all the eight MLAs for violating the anti-defection law. “The split is illegal as it fails to meet the one-third requirement of the 10th Scheduled of the Constitution,” he wrote.

Sources in the RJD said that Laloo Yadav’s immediate concern was to engineer defection of at least two more JD MLAs. The identity of the two MLAs that the RJDhas targeted is still unknown. “It is too early to name them. Just wait and watch. After Madhepura, Laloo has vowed to finish Sharad Yadav and his Janata Dal in the state,” a Laloo confidant said.

“Chinta mat kariye. Bihar mein ab Janata Dal ka naam bhi nahin rahega. Sare log ek-ek kar RJD mein aa jayengey (JD will be wiped out from Bihar),” a senior RJD leader told The Indian Express.

Political observers said since the Speaker was not formally informed about the JD’s formal spilt, he was free to ignore Sharad Yadav’s request. In a clever move, Ramai Ram who was heading the state JD before he defected to the RJD, is learnt to have served backdated letters to two JD leaders, Inder Singh Namdhari and Ashok Singh, saying that they had been suspended from the party for their anti-party activities. While Singh contested Lok Sabha election on a Samata Party ticket, Namdhari joined the BJP.