North India Statesman
News India Live, Digital Desk : Bihar Assembly Election : On the eve of the first phase of voting for the assembly elections in Bihar, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has suffered a major political setback. Lalan Kumar, the current MLA of the party from Pirpainti seat of Bhagalpur, left ‘Kamal’ and took up ‘Lalten’ on Wednesday. This defection has happened at such an important time, when the election campaign on the first phase of seats has stopped and the parties are finalizing their strategy for voting.
Leader of Opposition and Grand Alliance’s Chief Ministerial candidate Tejashwi Yadav himself got Lalan Kumar to join the party. On this occasion, Lalan Kumar described Tejashwi Yadav as the ‘present and future’ of Bihar and said that he has joined RJD to make ‘Tejasvimay Bihar’.
The pain of ticket cancellation became the reason for defection
The main reason behind Lalan Kumar leaving the party is that he did not get a ticket in this election. In the 2020 assembly elections, Lalan Kumar defeated the RJD candidate from the Peerpainti (reserved) seat by a huge margin of over 27,000 votes. Despite his victory, this time BJP has placed its bet on newcomer Murari Paswan in his place.
Angered by the ticket being cut, Lalan Kumar had expressed his pain in his resignation a few days ago, saying that BJP no longer needed “vocal Dalit faces.” His move may create problems for BJP in the seat where the number of Dalit voters is decisive.
Tone changed as soon as he joined RJD
As soon as the party changed, Lalan Kumar’s attitude also changed. He posted his pictures with Tejashwi Yadav and Rabri Devi on social media and wrote:
“May the caravan of Rashtriya Janata Dal keep growing… Tejasvi is the present, Tejasvi is the future! Jai Bhim!!”
This incident has made the first phase of elections even more interesting. On one hand, RJD has got the support of an experienced and sitting MLA, while BJP will have to face a challenge from its own old ally. It remains to be seen what effect this ‘game’ that took place just before the elections has on the minds of the people of Pirpainti.