The Turncoat Effect

In the evening of June 29, four legislators who had joined the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) removed their footwear before entering party chief Lalu Prasad’s room to seek his blessings.

- Amitabh Srivastava

BIHAR

The four MLAs—Muhammed Izhar Asfi, Shahnawaz Alam, Syed Ruknuddin Ahmad and Mohammed Anzar Nayeemi—had won their seats in the 2020 assembly polls for the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM). Their defection has left the Asaduddin Owaisi-led party with one MLA in Bihar—Akhtarul Iman.

When BJP spokesman Nikhil Anand ridiculed the gesture as a sign of servility, many described his comment as an expression of envy. After all, with these inductions taking its strength to 80 MLAs, the RJD has once again become the single largest party in the 243-member legislative assembly. Just three months ago, the BJP had used the same method to become the largest party in the assembly for the first time by inducting all three MLAs of the Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP)—Raju Singh, Swarna Singh and Mishrilal Yadav—but even that left it with only 77 MLAs.