The breakaway faction of Ram Vilas Paswan’s Lok Janashakti Party has said it will merge with the Janata Dal (U) on July 7. Twenty-one of the 29 MLAs elected on LJP tickets in the February elections will be joining the party, the leader of the breakaway faction Narendra Singh said.Four MLAs of the dissolved Assembly belonging to the Singh faction — Janak Singh, Rameshwar Paswan, Anil Kumar and Krishan Mohan Choudhary — were present at Thursday’s news conference. Singh has claimed the support of four others who are in jail — Rama Singh, Sheel Kumar Rai, Shankar Singh and Dhumal Singh.The breakaway faction had announced it would support Nitish Kumar in his attempt to form a government, but Governor Buta Singh dissolved the Assembly instead. Singh also demanded the Bihar Governor’s recall for recommending the dissolution of the Assembly without giving the NDA a chance. The faction leader also ridiculed Paswan’s ‘‘love for the Muslims,’’ calling it a ‘‘mere political stunt’’.
