Patna,(BiharTimes): Notorious outlaw and once known as Terror of Champaran region, Bablu Dev, on Friday joined the Janata Dal (United) in the presence of the state party chief, Vashist Narayan Singh and water resources minister, Vijay Chaudhary. Bablu joined the party only two days after Shah Alam ‘Shabbu’, a close associate of former RJD MP and strongman, Mohammad Shahabuddin, came into the party fold on Wednesday.

It is not that JD(U) did not have its own quota of outlaws. MLA Sunil Pandey, his MLC brother, Hulas Pandey, Mokama MLA Anant Singh, Dhummal Singh, Munna Shukla, Ajay Singh are just a few such names. The last named in fact was denied the party ticket but he got it for his mother. But when she died in 2011, Ajay quickly married during inauspicious Pitripaksha month at the reported advice of chief
minister Nitish Kumar. Then his newly married wife, Kavita, was allotted ticket and she got elected to the state Assembly from the same seat in Siwan district.

Now Ajay Singh has forcibly became the president of Hindi Sahatiya Sammelan in Patna.

In 2000, when the then NDA failed to get absolute majority Nitish literally embraced outlaws like Rama Singh, Suraj Bhan Singh, Munna Shukla and Rajan Tiwari, in the state Assembly.

In spite of that the JD(U)-BJP alliance could not win the trust vote and Nitish had to resign after seven days (March 3-10, 2000). Though Munna Shukla is at present in jail his wife, Annu Shukla is the MLA of the party. Similar is the case with Amrendra Pandey, brother of ganglord, Satish Pandey. Earlier he was BSP MLA, but now he the JD(U) legislator.

Lesi Singh, wife of slain ganglord, Butan Singh is also the party MLA from Damdaha while Bima Bharati is the wife of notorious don Awadesh Mandal. However, the husband-wife relationship had now got strained.

All this happened with the then alliance partner BJP never opposing it.

In spite of this long list of MLAs with serious criminal cases the media, along with the alliance partner, the BJP, created a very good image of Nitish Kumar for obvious political reason.

In that way the recent joining of the party by notorious characters is not a new phenomenon in JD(U). What is different is that these dons are joining the party when no other prominent leaders from either BJP, RJD, Congress or LJP are now joining Janata Dal (United). What is even more surprising is that Nitish has failed to attract much bigger names like Pappu Yadav and Shahabuddin to his side.

Political observers are of the view that the Janata Dal (United) has started losing its magic. If this phenomenon continues the U in JD(U) may no longer stand for United but for Underworld, one of them commented.