Bihar: All 3 Vikassheel Insan Party MLAs join BJP, now single largest party with 77 members

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All three MLAs of Mukesh Sahani's Vikassheel Insan Party (VIP) on Wednesday met Bihar Assembly Speaker Vijay Sinha and informed him that they have officially joined the BJP. The development took place after the proceedings of Vidhan Sabha ended for the day at around 6 pm.

Now after all 3 VIP party's MLAs joining BJP, the saffron party's tally in 243-member Bihar assembly has rose to 77 making it the single largest party in the state surpassing RJD which has 75 members.

The three MLAs - Mishri Lal Yadav, Raju Singh and Swarn Singh - went to the chamber of the Speaker, along with the two Deputy Chief Ministers Tar Kishore Prasad and Renu Devi, but waited outside till state BJP chief Sanjay Jaiswal came.

Then, they went inside and shared their joining letters, while also announcing that they have no official relation with the VIP.

The three legislators said that the VIP has only three MLAs in the house and all of them have joined the BJP, hence, the anti-defection act is not applicable on them. As per the act, if two-third legislators of a party join another party, they cannot be penalised under it.

Raju Singh accused Sahani of having "no political knowledge".

"He is working like a businessman in politics. He does not have any political sense. We have taken the decision in the interest of the state and the country," he said. Yadav also expressed similar views.

Jaiswal said, "The three MLAs of VIP have given the joining letter of the BJP to the Speaker on Wednesday. They were basically BJP workers in the past. After the agreement with the VIP during the 2020 Bihar Assembly election, they joined the VIP to contest the election. Now, it is a Ghar Wapsi for them today."

He and Prasad and Renu Devi offered saffron turbans of BJP to them to officially welcome them into the partya.

With this, VIP has no MLA in the Assembly. Hence, the Nitish Kumar government is likely to sack Sahani, who is the Animal Husbandry and Fisheries Minister, any time. He is currently an MLC and his tenure is ending in the next two months.

Sahani has been on the radar of the BJP ever since he contested against it in the recently-concluded Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections. BJP top sources claimed that he openly asked voters to defeat the BJP despite being an alliance partner in Bihar.

The sour relation between Sahani and the BJP were also indicated after the former's move in the upcoming MLC elections. The BJP is contesting in 12 seats out of 24 and Sahani has given his party tickets to candidates in all these 12 seats.

Sahani seemed aware of the fact that the BJP would gun for him after the Uttar Pradesh polls. Hence, he had met Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and JD-U parliamentary board President Upendra Kushwaha for a patch-up with the BJP but it has already given an indication that it would not talk on Sahani.

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