PATNA: A feud with BJP has made Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) chief Mukesh Sahani an isolated man in the political arena in the state. Though a sudden but well-planned coup by all three MLAs of his party, who joined the BJP on Wednesday, has shaken Sahani, he sounded rebellious on Thursday and refused to quit from the cabinet of ministers in the Nitish Kumar government.
Sahani, who is the state animal husbandry minister, has sought to remain in the government by putting the ball in the court of CM Nitish Kumar, who is supposed to attend the oath-taking ceremony of Yogi Adityanath-led BJP government in Lucknow on Friday.
“It is chief minister Nitish Kumar’s prerogative whether to keep me as minister or not. I will abide by whatever decision the CM takes,” Sahani said.
Apparently, few BJP MLAs, including Bisfi MLA Hari Bhushan Thakur Bachol, are demanding that Sahni should step down as he has no MLAs in the legislative Assembly and is the only MLC in the legislative Council, which is also set to end in July.
BJP’s Bihar unit president Dr Sanjay Jaiswal on the other hand, claimed that Sahni is no longer a part of NDA in Bihar. “He (Sahni) might have met the union home minister but you (Sahni) talk against NDA all the time despite being a part of the alliance. You are making a world record of losing elections; still BJP makes you MLC from its quota. However, he had the same attitude. BJP made a history by making a person from extremely backward caste (EBC) the Prime Minister (PM) of the country. The language he speaks against our top leadership is against coalition dharma. Efforts were made to convince him but the kind of language he used did not belong to NDA ally,” Jaiswal told reporters in Delhi.
While BJP has shown the doors to Sahni, he also seems to have no invitation from his former ally RJD. Former CM and RJD’s national vice- president Rabri Devi told reporters at the entrance of legislative council on Thursday that Sahni is reaping what he has sown. “He has been stabbed in the back by the double engine government of Nitish and BJP,” Rabri said.
The political journey of Sahni, a former Bollywood movie set designer, started in 2013 when he floated full page advertisements in all newspapers in Bihar. Later, he supported BJP in 2014 Lok Sabha elections, when Modi became PM. However, he later parted ways from BJP and formally announced his own party, VIP on November 4, 2018. Sahni was a part of RJD- led Mahagathbandhan in 2019 Lok Sabha elections but none of the three candidates of his party could win in the parliamentary polls.
Later in 2020, Sahni had a friction with RJD on the issue of seat- sharing and he had left a joint press- briefing of Mahagathbandhan allies at Patna on October 3, 2020 angrily, saying that “he has been stabbed in the back”. Thus was Rabri’s satirical reaction on Thursday on Sahni’s present situation in the NDA.
Nevertheless, Sahni extended his best wishes to the three defecting MLAs as well as BJP for becoming the single largest party in Bihar, after entry of three MLAs from his party.
He, however, iterated that Bochaha assembly seat belonged to his party as it was won by late Musafir Paswan, who passed away in November, 2021, following which the bypoll is due on April 12. “BJP announced their candidate for Bochaha, despite knowing that VIP has first claim on this seat,” he said.
Sahni also claimed he had a “deal” with union minister Amit Shah. “My closed- door deal with BJP in Delhi is known to only I and union minister Amit Shah. BJP’s state president Jaiswal was not even outside that room,” he said.
Meanwhile, JD (U) functionary and social welfare minister Madan Sahni said VIP chief should remain in the NDA. “He (Sahni) is a part of NDA and I would like that he would continue to remain a part of the alliance as NDA will remain stronger from it. The community, from which he comes and represents, are supporter of NDA. He is from our community and has been vocal about our rights, including reservation for EBCs,” Madan said.
