Lalu Prasad's 'samadhi' Chandrika Rai and two other MLAs set to join Nitish Kumar-led JD(U) tomorrow

PATNA: Three more RJD MLAs including the party president Lalu Prasad’s ‘Samadhi’ Chandrika Rai, are likely to join the Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar-led JD(U) here on Thursday (tomorrow).
High placed sources in the JD (U) on Wednesday said the joining programme would be held at the party’s state headquarters here at around 2:30 pm on Thursday in the presence of the state’s energy minister Bijendra Prasad Yadav and a few other senior party leaders.
Besides Chandrika Rai who is the son of former Bihar CM Daroga Prasad Rai, two other RJD legislators who are all set to join Nitish Kumar’s party are Paliganj MLA Jaivardhan Yadav alias Baccha Yadav and Keoti MLA Faraz Fatmi.
While Jaivardhan is the grandson of former Union minister and famous Yadava leader Ram Lakhan Singh Yadav, Faraz is the son of former Union minister MAA Fatmi who represented Darbhanga Lok Sabha seat in the parliament for four times.
Chandrika, who is father of Aishwarya Rai, the estranged wife of Lalu’s elder son and former health minister Tej Pratap Yadav, had not been attending any programme of the RJD for the last several months especially since her daughter’s martial relation with Lalu-Rabri family went sour. Faraz too had not been attending the RJD events after his father senior Fatmi quit the Lalu’s party and joined the JD(U) months after the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Senior Fatmi was not happy with the RJD leadership after denial of the party ticket to contest the 2019 Lok Sabha polls either from Darbhanga or Madhubani.
Though reports about Chandrika and Faraz joining the RJD were doing the rounds in the state’s political circles for the last several weeks, the case of Jaivardhan has come as a surprise for the RJD leadership.
Earlier on Monday, other three RJD MLAs, along with their supporters, joined the ruling JD(U) in presence of Bijendra Prasad Yadav during a simple programme held at the JD(U) state headquarters here. The MLAs who joined the ruling party were Maheshwar Prasad Yadav (Gaighat assembly constituency), Prema Choudhary (Patepur) and Ashok Kumar (Sasaram).
Maheshwar, Prema and Faraz were the three RJD legislators who were expelled from the primary membership of the Lalu’s party for a period of six years, on Sunday, a day before Maheshwar and Prema joined the JD(U).