In a major setback to Asaduddin Owaisi's AIMIM party in Bihar, 4 out of 5 of its MLAs defected to Rashtriya Janata Dal .With this defection, RJD's total MLA count went up to 79, helping the party retain the title of the single largest party in Bihar, leaving behind the Bharatiya Janata Party.
According to reports, the four MLAs who moved to RJD are Muhammed Izhar Asfi (Kochadamam), Shahnawaz Alam (Jokihat), Syed Ruknuddin (Baisi), and Azhar Nayeemi (Bahadurgunj). Bihar state president Akhtarul Iman(Amour constituency) is currently the only MLA Owaisi's All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen has in the state.
The RJD is the principal Opposition party in the Bihar Legislative Assembly and has 80 MLAs in the 243-member Legislative Assembly. According to earlier media reports, the four AIMIM MLAs were in contact with the RJD as they were highly skeptical about their future in AIMIM after the 2021 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections in which the Owaisi's party had fielded its candidates on over 90 seats but failed to win even a single constituency.
In the 2020 Bihar Assembly election, it should be noted that despite AIMIM's major vote bank being Muslims, it was able to cut into the vote bank of RJD in at least 20 constituencies.The Bihar AIMIM legislatures fear that the Bihar electorate may snub them in the upcoming 2025 Assembly polls, and hence beleive joining the RJD will help warrant a more stable political career.
If AIMIM MLAs merge with the ruling party and then RJD will become the single largest party in the state which at present has 76 MLAs. The Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) has 77 MLAs in the Bihar Assembly after the merger of 3 MLAs of the Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) with it. Commenting on the recent development, RJD leader and Opposition leader Tejashwi Yadav stated: 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."
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