A day after all the three MLAs of Vikassheel Insan Party (VIP) joined the BJP, party chief Mukesh Sahani on Thursday said that his political life has been full of struggle and he is ready to fight till his last breath.
While addressing the media, Mukesh Sahani refused to resign from the post of Bihar cabinet minister stating that Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has to take a decision on it and he will abide by his orders.
"My good wishes are with those three MLAs who were with us till yesterday and have joined another party (BJP) now. Our 3 MLAs made their total to 77 MLAs, they became the number one party of Bihar, I congratulate them," said Sahani.
When asked about his resignation from the ministerial post, the VIP chief said, "My resignation is the prerogative of CM Nitish Kumar, so I will do as he says. CM Nitish Kumar has to decide who will be a minister in his government. Remove me if you want."
Accusing the leaders of Bihar BJP, he said that there was a conspiracy to break him from the very beginning.
"Whenever I have tried to move forward, I am a knock in the eyes of the people. I have not done any mistake by contesting the UP elections. I will fight till my last breath for my people but Sanjay Jaiswal lied a lot," said Sahani.
He said that BJP Bihar chief Sanjay Jaiswal had no knowledge of the VIP-BJP alliance and has lied a lot.
"After talking to the BJP high command, I formed an alliance. Sanjay Jaiswal was not even standing outside the room then. What Sanjay Jaiswal and other BJP leaders are saying, if Union Home Minister Amit Shah says the same thing, then I will accept it. The party which becomes the single largest party by snatching the MLAs of others, that party does not have the right to demand my resignation on moral grounds," he said.
Bihar minister Mukesh Sahani, who has raised a banner of revolt against the BJP, on Wednesday received a massive setback when all three MLAs were elected on the ticket of his Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) jumped ship and merged with the BJP.
Notably, Sahani who is now left as the only representative from his party as an MLC, is the sitting Minister in the Bihar government led by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and has shown rebellious colours in the past.
The three MLAs who quit the VIP and joined the BJP are Raju Singh, Mishri Lal Yadav, and Swarna Singh.
Sahani, a former Bollywood set designer, had floated his party in November, 2018 and joined the RJD-led Grand Alliance soon afterward but left just ahead of the 2020 assembly polls, alleging that leader of the opposition Tejashwi Yadav was giving him a raw deal in sharing of seats.
He was inducted into the NDA at the instance of the BJP after a meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah. In the elections, his party won four seats though Sahani lost his own. Nonetheless, the BJP backed him and helped him earn a place in the Nitish Kumar cabinet.
However, he seemed to have entered his formidable former patron's bad books after his foray into the Uttar Pradesh elections where the inexperienced politician contested around 50 seats and virulently attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
(With inputs from Agencies)
