Patna (PTI):
On Wednesday, the Bihar Congress announced a substantial boost with the induction of JD(U) leader and former MLA Poonam Devi Yadav.
Yadav joined the Congress at the BPCC headquarters, Sadaqat Ashram, with state president Akhilesh Prasad Singh. She formerly held the Khagaria assembly seat for three consecutive terms before losing to Congress candidate Chhatrapati Yadav by 3,000 votes in the 2020 elections. Her spouse, Ranveer Yadav, was an Independent candidate who won the seat in 1990. Yadav told reporters at the occasion that joining the Congress was like “returning home after a long ‘vanvaas’ (period spent in the wilderness).” She recalled her political debut on a Congress ticket in the late 1990s, and how following her defeat, Samata Party leaders encouraged her to switch loyalties, claiming that the Congress was a diminishing force.
It is worth noting that the JD(U), currently led by Nitish Kumar, was previously known as the Samata Party, which he created in the 1990s alongside his mentor, the late George Fernandes.
