Grand Alliance (GA) leaders of Bihar and Jharkhand have claimed that defection of Jharkhand State RJD president Annapurna Devi to BJP is not going to affect either the health of her former party or the alliance in Jharkhand in the ensuing elections.

Once considered the shadow of RJD chief Lalu Prasad in Jharkhand, Devi on Monday quit RJD and chose to become BJP’s chowkidar. Accepting the party’s membership in New Delhi in presence of senior party leaders and Jharkhand chief minister, Raghubar Das, Devi said she is deeply influenced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s principles. “I have realized that the country needs him and have hence quit RJD to join the BJP,” she said.

Grand Alliance leader in Jharkhand, however, seem unconvinced by her statement. “Such decisions are not taken overnight. She must have certainly been in touch with the BJP leaders for long. Though it’s her personal decision, it’s certainly not a sensible decision and she would face the consequences in the forthcoming polls,” former Jharkhand chief minister and JMM working president, Hemant Soren told reporters in Ranchi.

Hours before she took BJP membership in Delhi, the RJD high command expelled Devi from the party and post. Gautam Sagar Rana, whom she had replaced as state president in 2018, was reappointed to the spot.

Party insiders said that Devi was a tall leader of RJD in Jharkhand for over two decades. However, of late, she was struggling to keep the flame of the lantern flickering. Lalu’s sentencing in the fodder scams and jail term followed by his prolonged illness had led to mass exodus of leaders and workers from Jharkhand RJD. Alone and with virtually no support from the party headquarter, Devi was feeling disenchanted and had hence decided to defect to BJP for greener pastures.

Moreover, she was aspiring to get RJD ticket from Koderma but in the seat sharing agreement, RJD got only Palamu. That proved to be the determining factor for her to quit RJD.

“Defection of Annapurna Devi to the BJP is a sad thing for us. She was undoubtedly a tall leader in the party. In 2006, the Arjun Munda government had tried to lure her but Lalu scuttled Munda’s efforts. It’s unfortunate that she has left but her exit is not going to affect us as much as RJD is an ideology and Lalu its founder,” said RJD spokesperson, Bhai Birendra.

First Published: Mar 27, 2019 11:56 IST