RJD appointed Goutam Sagar Rana its new Jharkhand unit president hours after the incumbent, Annapurna Devi joined BJP in Delhi on Monday just weeks ahead the Lok Sabha polls.

Lalu Prasad (RJD president) has appointed Goutam Sagar Rana as RJDs Jharkhand unit president, a RJD statement said here.

She joined BJP along with former RJD MLA Janardhan Paswan in the presence of BJP president Amit Shah, Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das and BJP MP Bhupendra Yadav in the national capital.

Annapurna Devi's defection to BJP comes a day after the RJD rejected the Grand Alliances seat sharing formula for the upcoming Lok Sabha election in the state, which has a total 14 seats.

As per the seat sharing formula of the Allaince, Congress would contest in seven seats, JMM four, JVM two and RJD one.

But RJD demanded two seats - the Palamau seat allotted to it and Chatra as well.

In a statement Das said that Annapurna Devi is a popular leader in Jharkhand and has been working in the interest of the people, while the JMM, JVM, Congress, the RJD and the Left parties had used the poor, dalits, tribals and the backward classes as their vote banks and had done nothing to uplift their conditions.

"Leaders of different political parties are joining the BJP inspired by its people-oriented work. Annapurna Devi's joining BJP will have a constructive influence in the politics of Jharkhand, he said.

The parliamentary elections in Jharkhand will be held in four phases from April 29.

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