How BJP finished off ally turned foe

Mukesh Sahni's move to contest 55 seats in the UP assembly polls angered BJP leaders.
M I Khan from Patna.

The Vikassheel Insaan Party's three legislators joining the Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday night was seen as a major setback for VIP supremo and Bihar's Animal and Fisheries Resources Minister Mukesh Sahni, an ally of the National Democratic Alliance in the state, but it is also bad news for both Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal-United and Lalu Yadav's Rashtriya Janata Dal, the main Opposition party in the state.

The three VIP legislators handed over letters of support to Bihar assembly Speaker Vijay Kumar Sinha hours before joining the BJP in Patna -- when Sahni was busy with the nomination of a party candidate for the Bochaha assembly bypolls in Muzaffarpur district.

Sahni, a 41-year-old Bollywood set designer-turned-politician, who has been trying hard to make space for himself in Bihar's caste-ridden politics for the last eight years, has thus been left high and dry without any MLA and his own term as member of legislative council coming to an end in July.

For the first time Sahni's VIP won four seats, including Bochaha, in the Bihar assembly election in 2020 as part of the NDA. Sahni, who contested but lost, was made a minister and elected an MLC in a bypoll.

The Bochaha seat fell vacant last year after VIP MLA Musafir Paswan died, and the seat is due for a bypoll on April 12. The BJP fielded a candidate, which was opposed by Sahni who fielded a VIP candidate.

A day after the split in his party, Sahni, who calls himself the son of a Mallah (the community comprises boatmen and fishermen), announced in Patna that he will not bow before anyone and will continue to fight for reservations for the Nishad community.

"Mein son of Mallah hoon main unka beta hoon, main unke adhikar ke liye ladta rahoonga. Mein koi galti nahi kiya apne samaj ke liye aarakshan maang ke. Mein kisi ke samne nahi jhukega," Sahni on Thursday revealed his party's post-split politics.

By raising the issue of reservations for Nishad that he has been doing aggressively for the last few years, Sahni has sent a political message that he is keen to expand his support base among his caste -- Nishad and Sahni -- which has a sizeable presence in flood-prone north Bihar and strong presence in several places.

Sahni also made it clear that it was the chief minister's prerogative to keep or remove him from his cabinet. "I will not resign and will continue to work for the welfare and empowerment of the poor and marginalised, it is for the CM to decide," he announced.

Hours after his party split, BJP leaders demanded that he resign as minister on moral grounds. They argued that Sahni was made an MLC from the BJP's quota and now that he has been opposing the party, he has no right to continue as a minister.

Sahni was in the news earlier for targeting the BJP in the assembly election in Uttar Pradesh, which 55 VIP candidates contested, and unsuccessfully. This angered BJP leaders who decided to cut him down to size, which operation was completed by splitting his party on Wednesday.

A senior BJP leader revealed that Sahni's move to contest 55 seats in the UP polls had antagonised party leaders including Home Minister Amit Anilchandra Shah.

Sahni also appealed to voters to not vote for the BJP in advertisements in local newspapers in UP. "Sahni publicly opposed the BJP and used bad words for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and it did not go down well with the party," the BJP leader in Bihar explained.

Early this week, senior BJP leader and Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai met Nitish Kumar and reportedly informed him about 'Operation VIP' and requested him not to extend any support to Sahni.

The BJP in Bihar has now fulfilled its dream of becoming the single largest party in the 243-member state assembly.

Till March 23, the BJP was the largest party in the ruling coalition with 74 MLAs, but with the addition of the three VIP MLAs it has become the single largest party in the assembly with 77 MLAs.

In the 2020 Bihar assembly election, the RJD emerged as the single largest party with 75 MLAs; it has now been pushed to the second position.

The BJP's major ally Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal-United has only 45 MLAs, the third largest party in the assembly. Before the assembly election, the JD-U had more MLAs than the BJP.

With the BJP snatching the status of the single largest party from the RJD, it has also ended RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav's hopes of toppling the Nitish Kumar government with the support of the VIP and the Hindustani Awam Morcha.

Political watchers in Patna said the BJP had been uncomfortable with Sahni since last year, when he started targeting the party and indirectly threatened to put the NDA government in the state in trouble to wrest a political bargain.

"But Sahni forgot that his party MLAs were close to the BJP which gave him the candidates to contest on the VIP's symbol under the seat-sharing arrangement in the assembly polls. Besides, the BJP lured his MLAs reportedly by promising ministerial berths etc. What happened to the VIP was expected," says Satyanarayan Madan, who monitors political developments in Bihar.

Another political commentator says Sahni embarrassed the BJP on many occasions in recent months. "It was bound to happen because the BJP only tolerates powerful allies like Nitish Kumar, not weak ones like Sahni."

With the BJP gaining in this episode, it is likely to put an end to the months-long speculation of the NDA government in Patna being in danger. While the VIP has been defanged, former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi's Hindustani Awam Morcha will not dare to challenge the BJP.

With this, the BJP is in full control of ruling coalition politics and the party is in the driver's seat despite Nitish Kumar being the CM. No longer will Nitish be in a position to play power politics like he did in the past.

Sahni is likely to align with the RJD sooner or later as he has no option but to expand his social support base. The RJD too needs Sahni to strengthen its base among extreme backward castes like Nishad in the state.

A school dropout, Sahni left his village in Darbhanga district at the age of 18 and headed to Mumbai, attracted by the glamour of Bollywood. After struggling for years, he finally established himself as a successful set designer.

In the 2015 Bihar assembly election, Sahni allied with the NDA which was defeated by the newly minted combination of the Rashtriya Janata Dal and Janata Dal-United.

In 2018, Sahni formally launched his party and contested the 2019 Lok Sabha election, but failed to win a seat.