Mukesh Sahni joins RJD-led alliance, VIP to contest 3 seats
Former Bihar minister Mukesh Sahni joins RJD-led Mahagathbandhan in Bihar, his VIP party to contest three Lok Sabha seats.
Former Bihar minister Mukesh Sahni on Friday joined RJD-led Mahagathbandhan in the state where his Vikassheel Insan Party (VIP) will contest three Lok Sabha seats of Gopalganj, Jhanjharpur and East Champaran.
The announcement came at a press conference addressed by RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav along with Sahni, a Bollywood set designer-turned-politician who heads the VIP, which he founded in November 2018.
Yadav said, “Seat-sharing formula has already been announced for the INDIA bloc in Bihar. The RJD has got 26 seats. We will give three from our quota to Sahni’s party.”
In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the VIP had contested as a Mahagathbandhan ally, but ahead of state assembly elections a year later, Sahni quit the alliance and joined the NDA.
In the new government headed by chief minister Nitish Kumar, Sahni became a minister, understandably at the instance of the BJP, which also helped him become a member of the legislative council since he had failed to get elected to the assembly.
Sahni, who uses the sobriquet “son of mallah” to project himself as a leader of castes traditionally involved in fishing, was expelled from the cabinet after he rubbed the BJP the wrong way while campaigning for his party in Uttar Pradesh.
Subsequently, all four VIP MLAs also joined the BJP while Sahni was left high and dry after his legislative council term ended, shortly after his expulsion from the cabinet.
“The coalition with the VIP is not only for the LS polls, but it will continue for assembly elections due next year,” said Tejashwi Yadav at the press conference on Friday.
“Now that everything is settled down, the Mahagathbandhan will win all 40 seats in Bihar. The state will throw up surprising results in the LS polls,” Sahni said.
With the entry of VIP, the Mahagathbandhan in Bihar now comprises six parties, including three Left parties.
The NDA had swept the 2019 LS polls in Bihar, winning 39 of the total 40 seats in the state barring Kishanganj, which was won by the Congress.