In a major setback to All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi, four MLAs of his party on Wednesday joined the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) in Bihar. The AIMIM had put up an impressive show in the November 2020 Assembly polls by winning five out of 20 Assembly seats it contested.
The five MLAs who had won are Akhtarul Iman (Amour constituency), Muhammed Izhar Asfi (Kochadamam), Shahnawaz Alam (Jokihat), Syed Ruknuddin (Baisi) and Azhar Nayeemi (Bahadurgunj). Barring Akhtarul, the remaining four others joined the RJD which is the principal Opposition party in the Legislative Assembly with 80 MLAs in the 243-member Legislative Assembly.
"Out of the five Bihar AIMIM MLAs, four have joined our party today. We welcome them. Now we are the largest party in the Bihar Legislative Assembly," RJD leader and Opposition leader Tejashwi Yadav said.
The Hyderabad-headquartered party, which polled 1.24 per cent (5,23,279) votes, was a constituent of the Grand Democratic Secular Front, which contested all 243 seats and had projected Upendra Kushwaha as the chief ministerial candidate. Kushwaha, however, merged his Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP), which was floated in 2013, with the Janata Dal (United) led by Nitish Kumar.
Tejashwi Yadav with AIMIM MLAs who joined the RJD on June 29
After the result was announced, the alliance led by RJD had blamed Owaisi's party for eating into its votes in the Seemanchal region. The AIMIM had fielded 14 candidates in the Seemanchal region which comprises four districts Purnia, Katihar, Kishanganj, and Araria -- accounting for 24 seats. The region has a sizeable Muslim population and was considered an RJD-Congress stronghold. But in the 2020 election, Owaisi ended up dividing the Muslim votes, thus hurting the prospects of RJD capturing the power and Tejashwi Yadav's (son of Lalu Prasad Yadav) dream of becoming the Chief Minister.
READ MORE: Five newly-elected AIMIM legislators from Bihar call on Owaisi
READ MORE: How AIMIM played spoilsport for RJD in Seemanchal
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