Returning to RJD a ‘homecoming’ for Jha

Raghunath Jha, MP from Gopalganj in the dissolved Lok Sabha, today parted ways with Nitish Kumar and joined former mentor Laloo Prasad Yadav. Announcing his decision here, Jha said it was like a ‘‘homecoming’’, ‘‘Samata Party was like a rented house for me’’.

Laloo said more leaders from the NDA would join his front in the coming days. Jha has been leading a revolt within the Samata Party against Nitish Kumar. When the Samata Party merged with the JD(U), Jha had kept away and was trying to get into the BJP first. Today, Jha accused Nitish of ‘‘behaving like a dictator’’. Jha is likely to contest from North Bihar’s Bethia, vacating Gopalganj for Yadav’s brother-in-law, Sadhu Yadav. Jha was in the Congress till 1980 but quit to join the Janata Party. He later joined the Janata Dal. Jha held different portfolios when Yadav and Rabri Devi were chief ministers. In 1997, when the Janata Dal split to form the Samata party, he joined the latter.