Suspended JDU MLA Resigns to Contest Bihar Bypolls on RJD Ticket

Sarfaraz Alam accused CM Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) party of “betraying secular forces” by joining hands with the BJP.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and RJD chief Lalu Prasad at Gandhi Maidan, Patna. 

(Photo: PTI)

Suspended Janata Dal (United) MLA Sarfaraz Alam on Saturday, 10 February, resigned from the party and also from the assembly to join RJD, giving a clear indication of contesting bypoll from Araria Lok Sabha seat represented by his late father.

Alam joined Lalu Prasad's party in presence of senior RJD leaders including its national vice-president Shivanand Tiwary at RJD's office here.

He accused Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's party JD(U) of "betraying secular forces" by joining hands with the BJP.

The development came a day after bypolls were announced for two assembly segments in Bihar, besides the Araria Lok Sabha seat which was represented by Alam's late father Mohammad Taslimuddin, who was a RJD MP.

Taslimuddin had won the seat by a margin of more than two lakh votes, while the BJP and the JD(U) – which had fought separately – finished almost neck and neck occupying respectively the second and the third positions in the 2014 general elections.

“I had joined the JD(U) as it was then a part of the Grand Alliance which represented secular forces. Ever since the party betrayed the secular forces, I have been under pressure from my voters and my mother that I join the party to which my father belonged,” Alam told reporters.

Asked whether he has been promised the RJD ticket from Araria, Alam – who had met former Chief Minister and party supremo Lalu Prasad's wife Rabri Devi earlier in the day – said "the decision shall be taken by the party".

Alam, who was the MLA from Jokihat seat in Araria, was suspended from the JD(U) two years ago following complaints that he had misbehaved with a couple while travelling by a Delhi-bound train.