The BJP on Wednesday became the single-largest party in the Bihar Assembly about 18 months after the state elections. This was made possible as all three MLAs of the Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP), an NDA member, merged with the saffron party.
The addition of the three MLAs helped the BJP go from 74 MLAs to 77 and pip the RJD, the main opposition party, by two seats. The additional number of MLAs is expected to add more heft to the BJP's posturing against its ally, the JD(U).
The merger of the VIP with the BJP in the state assembly is a blow to minister Mukesh Sahani, national president of the party. Sahani is the Minister for Animal Husbandry and Fisheries in the Nitish Kumar government. The VIP had contested the Bihar polls in 2020 as part of the NDA and fought from 11 seats, winning from 4.
One of the four MLAs, Musafir Paswan, died in November. Sahani was busy on Wednesday helping his party's Geeta Devi file her nomination for the bypoll to the Bochaha seat, which was previously held by Paswan. On Wednesday evening, VIP MLAs Swarna Singh, Mishri Lal Yadav and Raju Kumar Singh met Bihar Assembly Speaker Vijai Kumar Sinha to inform him of their decision to merge with the BJP.
Sahani lost the 2020 election and was elected to the legislative council in order to be made a minister.
Sahani had been critical of the BJP in recent months, putting up candidates in the recent Uttar Pradesh polls. The Indian Express noted Sahani “angered the BJP by fielding about 52 candidates in the UP polls and later by fielding seven candidates against it in the upcoming Bihar MLC polls for 24 seats. The BJP hit back by fielding its candidate from the coming Bochaha (Muzaffarpur) bypoll...”
On Thursday, Sahani held a press conference, where he declared he would keep working for the people. He accused state BJP chief Sanjay Jaiswal of lying “a lot”, ANI reported. He also wished the three MLAs well.
Sahani's main support base is the Mallah (boatmen) community, which comes under the category of economically backward classes. “In Bihar, Mallahs are a prominent EBC community, which is concentrated in Muzaffarpur, Madhubani and Darbhanga districts,” The Indian Express explains.
