After Jharkhand MLAs, Bihar MLAs Now Camped In Hyderabad As Opposition Fears Poaching

As the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) and Congress party-led coalition MLAs left Hyderabad on Sunday evening after spending the weekend there amid poaching fears, Bihar Congress MLAs arrived in the city for the same reason ahead of the floor test for the new government in Bihar on February 12.

According to reports, the Bihar Congress MLAs flew to Hyderabad to ‘greet’ the newly appointed Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy, who assumed office following the party’s victory in the December 2023 Assembly elections.

It has been learnt that the arrival of the Congress MLAs in Hyderabad is part of a precautionary measure taken by the party to prevent any poaching attempts as the newly formed NDA government in Bihar, headed by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, seeks a trust vote next week.

The Congress MLAs from Bihar, who have come to greet the Telangana Chief Minister, are likely to stay in Hyderabad till February 11.

AICC Bihar in-charge Mohan Prakash neither confirmed nor denied the development, but asserted that rumours are being spread that Congress MLAs will break away, when the truth is that JD(U) legislators are under pressure due to voters’ anger against them, after their party’s switch to the NDA. “They (JDU) should worry about keeping their flock together,” he added.

Party leaders from Bihar had met AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge in Delhi, who took stock of the situation in the state, where the latest volte-face of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, the JD(U) president, has sent shockwaves in the Mahagathbandhan’ as well as the opposition INDIA bloc.

Congress has 19 MLAs in the state Assembly out of whom 16 had turned up at the meeting, which was also attended by state Congress president Akhilesh Prasad Singh and MLCs Prem Chandra Mishra and Madan Mohan Jha.

Jharkhand MLAs Leave Hyderabad

Meanwhile, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha coalition MLAs, who were sent to Hyderabad hours after Champai Soren took oath as the new Chief Minister, arrived in Ranchi on Sunday night ahead of the floor test in the state Assembly, scheduled to take place on Monday.

The alliance, between the JMM, Congress and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), has 47 MLAs in the 81-member Jharkhand Assembly and is supported from outside by the lone CPIML (L) legislator, while the BJP and its allies have 29 MLAs.

(With inputs from PTI)