Patna, Jul 27 (PTI) Former JD(U) MP Arjun Ray, who had quit the party a decade ago in protest against then Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar’s return to the NDA, joined the BJP on Monday.
Ray, who contested the 2024 Lok Sabha elections from Sitamarhi on an RJD ticket, joined the saffron party along with his supporters in the presence of state BJP president Sanjay Saraogi.
Ray was a loyalist of late Sharad Yadav, a former JD(U) president who also served as the convener of the NDA till 2013, when Kumar decided to call off the alliance with the BJP.
Four years later, when Kumar snapped ties with the RJD-Congress combine and realigned with the BJP, Ray was among a handful of JD(U) leaders who sided with Yadav in opposing the move and forming the Loktantrik Janata Dal (LJD).
The LJD merged with the JD(U) in 2022.
Welcoming Ray into the party, Saraogi said his induction would strengthen the BJP.
Ray had represented the Sitamarhi Lok Sabha constituency and the Aurai assembly seat as a JD(U) leader.
The development is being seen as BJP’s attempt to counter Jan Suraaj Party founder Prashant Kishor’s Yadav outreach in the run-up to Bankipur assembly bypoll scheduled on July 30.
Although Yadavs, the most populous caste group in the state, have been by and large RJD supporters, the party’s candidate Rekha Gupta is being seen as less fancied than Kishor, a renowned former poll strategist who hopes to wrest the seat that the BJP has never lost since 1995.
In his attempt to garner the support of Yadavs, Kishor has been strongly raising the issue of the kidnapping and murder of local resident Bunty Yadav, who was seen as a crusader against flesh trade in the vicinity of Patna Railway Junction. PTI NAC MNB
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