Patna, Apr 18 (PTI) Former RJD MP Shailesh Kumar, who had defeated BJP’s Syed Shahnawaz Hussain in Bhagalpur seat in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, joined the JD(U) on Thursday in the presence of senior leaders.
Welcoming Shailesh Kumar aka Bulo Mandal into the party fold, former JD(U) national president Rajiv Ranjan Singh ‘Lalan’ said the induction will add to the party’s strength in Bhagalpur, where Mandal had also represented Bihpur assembly seat several times.
Senior minister Vijay Kumar Chaudhary, also a former state unit chief of the JD(U), said the induction of Mandal, who belongs to the Gangota caste, came less than a week after former Rajya Sabha MP Ashfaq Karim joined the JD(U) after quitting the RJD.
“These developments indicate a consolidation of Muslims and extremely backward classes in favour of the JD(U). This is bound to have an impact on the Lok Sabha polls’ outcome,” Chaudhary claimed.
Speaking on the occasion, Mandal said he had become disillusioned with the RJD, which was “no longer the party in which supremo Lalu Prasad allowed internal democracy”.
Notably, Bulo Mandal had lost his seat in 2019 to JD(U)’s Ajay Mandal and his hopes to wrest it back were dashed when Bhagalpur, in a seat-sharing agreement in the Mahagathbandhan, went to the Congress, which has given the ticket to MLA Ajeet Sharma.
Ajay Mandal seeks re-election, on a JD(U) ticket, from the seat which goes to polls in the second phase of Lok Sabha elections on April 26. PTI NAC ACD
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